THE   UPRISING 


OF    A    GREAT    PEOPLE 


THE  UNITED  STATES  EST  1861. 


FROM  THE  FRENCH  OF 


COUNT  AGfiNOR  DE  GASPARIN, 
BY  MARY  L.  BOOTH. 


NEW  YORK: 

CHAKLES  SCRIBXER,    124  GRAND  STREET. 
1861. 


ENTERED,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1861,  by 

CHAKLES  SCRIBXER, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 
District  of  New  York. 


JOHN  P.  TROW, 

PRIWTKH,  8TEREOTVPER,   AWD    ELECTHOTTPER, 

46,  48  &  50  Greene  Street, 
New  York. 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE. 

I  b>  *  •- 


AT  this  moment,  when  we  are  anxiously  scrutinizing 
every  indication  of  European  feeling  with  respect  to  the 
American  question,  the  advent  of  a  book,  bearing  the 
stamp  of  a  close  philosophical,  political,  and  practical 
study  of  the  subject,  and  written,  withal,  in  so  hopeful  a 
spirit  as  to  make  us  feel  with  the  writer  that  whatever 
may  result  from  the  present  crisis  must  be  for  good,  can 
not  fail  to  be  of  public  interest  and  utility.  So  truly 
prophetic  is  this  work  in  its  essence,  that  we  can  hardly 
believe  that  it  was  written  in  great  part  amid  the  mists 
that  preceded  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  All  prob 
abilities  appear  to  have  been  foreseen,  and  the  unerring 
exactness  with  which  events  have  taken  place  hitherto 
precisely  in  the  direction  indicated  by  the  author,  encour 
ages  us  to  believe  that  this  will  continue  until  his  predic 
tions  will  have  been  fulfilled  to  the  end.  Clear-sighted, 
philosophical,  appreciative  of  American  genius  and  accom 
plishment,  critical,  yet  charitable  to  tenderness,  stigmatiz- 


VI  TRANSLATOR  8    PREFACE. 

ing  the  fault,  yet  forgiving  the  offender,  cheering  our  ua- 
tion  onward  by  words  of  encouragement,  bravely  spoken 
at  the  needed  moment,  menacing  Europe  with  the  scorn 
of  posterity,  if,  forgetting  her  oft-repeated  professions,  she 
dare  forsake  the  side  of  liberty  to  traffic  in  principles  ; 
such  is  the  scope  of  what  a  late  reviewer  calls  "  the  wisest 
book  which  has  been  written  upon  America  since  De  Toc- 
queville." 

Few  men  are  better  qualified  to  judge  American 
affairs  than  Count  de  Gasparin.  A  many-sided  man,  com 
bining  the  scholar,  the  statesman,  the  politician,  the  man  of 
letters,  and  the  finished  gentleman,  possessed  of  every  ad 
vantage  of  culture,  wealth,  and  position,  he  has  devoted  a 
long  life  to  the  advocacy  of  liberty  in  all  its  forms,  whether 
religious  or  political,  and  has  ended  by  making  a  profound 
study  of  American  history  and  politics,  the  accuracy  of 
which  is  truly  remarkable.  A  few  facts  with  respect  to 
his  career,  kindly  furnished  by  his  personal  friend,  Rev. 
Dr.  Robert  Baird,  of  New  York,  will  be  here  in  place. 

Count  Agenor  fitienne  de  Gasparin  was  born  at 
Orange,  July  4,  1810.  His  family  is  Protestant,  and  of 
Corsican  origin  ;  his  father  was  a  man  of  talent  and  posi 
tion,  and  served  for  many  years  as  Prefect  of  the  District 
of  the  Rhone,  and  afterwards  as  Minister  of  the  Interior 
under  Louis  Philippe,  by  whom  he  was  highly  esteemed. 
He  received  a  liberal  education,  and  devoted  himself  es 
pecially  to  literature,  till  1842,  when  he  was  elected  by 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE.  vii 

the  people  of  the  island  of  Corsica  to  represent  them  in 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies.  Here  began  his  political  ca 
reer.  At  that  time,  religious  liberty  was  in  danger  of 
perishing  in  France,  assailed  by  the  powerful  opposition 
of  the  tribunals  and  the  administration.  De  Gasparin 
declared  himself  its  champion,  and,  in  an  eloquent  speech 
in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  which  moved  the  audience 
to  tears,  he  boldly  accused  the  courts  of  perverting  the 
civil  code  in  favor  of  religious  intolerance,  and  claimed 
unlimited  freedom  for  evangelical  preaching  and  colpor- 
tage.  He  also  made  strenuous  efforts  to  effect  the  imme* 
diate  emancipation  of  slaves  in  the  French  colonies,  and 
published  several  essays  on  the  subject.  He  devoted 
himself  especially  to  the  protection  of  Protestantism,  and 
founded  in  France  the  Society  for  the  Protection  of  Prot 
estant  interests,  and  the  Free  Protestant  Church,  yet,  de 
testing  religious  intolerance  everywhere,  he  did  not  hesi 
tate  to  denounce  the  Protestant  persecutions  of  Sweden 
as  bitterly  as  he  had  done  the  Catholic  bigotry  of  France. 
He  was  for  some  time  in  the  Ministry  of  the  Interior, 
and  was  private  secretary  of  M.  Guizot,  Minister  of  Pub 
lic  Instruction.  In  1848,  while  travelling  in  Italy  with 
his  wife,  a  talented  Swiss  lady,  the  author  of  several 
works,  he  received  intelligence  of  the  downfall  of  the  gov 
ernment  of  Louis  Philippe.  This  event  closed  his  public 
career.  He  addressed  a  letter  of  condolence  to  the  de 
throned  monarch,  to  whom  he  was  warmly  attached,  then 


Vlll  TKANSLATOK  S    PKEFACK. 

retired  to  Switzerland  to  devote  himself  to  literature  {.nd 
philanthropy,  being  too  warm  an  adherent  of  the  Orle  ms 
dynasty  to  take  part  in  the  new  administration.  Po  iti- 
cally,  he  is,  like  Guizot,  an  advocate  of  constitutir  nal 
monarchy.  Since  the  Revolution,  he  has  continued  to 
reside  in  Switzerland.  He  has  published  numerous  works 
on  philosophical  and  social  questions,  among  which  may  be 
instanced  :  Esclavage  et  Traite  •  De  T  Affranchissement  des 
Esclaves;  Interets  generaiix  du  Protestantisme  Fran^ais, 
Paganism  et  Chris  tianisme,  and  Des  tables  tournantes  du 
surnaturel  en  general,  et  des  esprits. 

His  present  work,  so  hopeful  and  sympathizing,  rec 
ommends  itself  to  the  attention  of  the  American  public ; 
and  even  those  who  may  dissent  from  some  of  his  j  osi- 
tions  or  conclusions,  cannot  but  admire  his  vigorous  com- 
prehension^of  the  outlines  of  the  subject,  and  be  cheered 
by  his  predictions  of  the  future.  As  the  expression  of 
the  opinion  of  an  intelligent,  clear-sighted  European,  in  a 
position  to  comprehend  men  and  things,  concerning  the 
storm  which  is  now  agitating  the  whole  country,  it  can 
scarcely  fail  of  a  hearty  welcome.  I  commend  the  follow 
ing  interpretation,  which  I  have  sought  to  make  as  con 
scientiously  literal  as  due  regard  to  idioms  of  language 
would  permit,  to  all  true  lovers  of  liberty  and  of  the 
Union,  of  whatever  State,  section,  or  nation. 

MARY  L.   BOOTH. 
NEW  YORK,  June  15,  1861. 


PREFACE. 


IN  publishing  this  study  at  the  present  time,  I  expose 
myself  to  the  blame  of  prudent  men.  I  shall  be  told  that 
I  ought  to  have  waited. 

To  have  waited  for  what  ?  Until  there  shall  be  no 
more  great  questions  in  Europe  to  dispute  our  attention 
with  the  American  question?  Or  until  the  American 
question  has  shaped  itself,  and  we  are  able  to  know 
clearly  what  interests  it  will  serve,  in  what  consequences 
it  will  end  ? 

I  am  not  sorry,  I  confess,  to  applaud  duty  before  it 
is  recommended  by  success.  When  success  shall  have 
come,  men  eager  to  celebrate  it  will  not  be  wanting, 
and  I  shall  leave  to  them  the  care  of  demonstrating 
then  that  the  North  has  been  in  the  right,  that  it  has 
saved  the  United  States. 

To  construct  the  philosophy  of  events  after  they  have 
passed  is  very  interesting,  without  doubt,  but  the  work 
to  be  accomplished  to-day  is  far  more  serious.  The 
point  in  question  is  to  sustain  our  friends  when  they  are 
in  need  of  us  ;  when  their  battle,  far  from  being  won,  is 
scarcely  begun ;  the  point  in  question  is  to  give  our  sup- 


X  PREFACE. 

port — the  very  considerable  support  of  European  opinion 
—at  the  time  when  it  can  bo  of  service;  the  point  in 
question  is  to  assume  our  small  share  of  responsibility" 
in  one  of  the  gravest  conflicts  of  this  age. 

Let  us  enlist ;  for  the  Slave  States,  on  their  part,  an; 
losing  no  time.  They  have  profited  well,  I  must  admit, 
by  the  advantages  assured  to  them  by  the  complicity  of 
the  ministers  of  Mr.  Buchanan.  In  the  face  of  the  inev 
itable  indecision  of  a  new  government,  around  which  caro 
had  been  taken  to  accumulate  in  advance  every  impossi 
bility  of  acting,  the  decided  bearing  of  the  extreme  South, 
its  airs  of  audacity  and  defiance  have  had  a  certain  ecla : 
and  a  certain  success.  Already  its  partisans  raise  the!  • 
heads ;  they  dare  speak  in  its  favor  among  us ;  they  in 
sult  free  trade,  by  transforming  it  into  an  argument 
destined  to  serve  the  interests  of  slavery.  And  shall 
we  remain  mute  ?  Shall  we  listen  to  the  counsels  of 
that  false  wrisdom  that  always  comes  too  late,  so  much 
does  it  fear  to  declare  itself  too  early  ?  Shall  we  not 
feel  impelled  to  show  in  all  its  true  light  the  sacred 
cause  of  liberty  ?  Ah  !  I  declare  that  the  blood  boils  in 
my  veins  ;  I  have  hastened  and  would  gladly  have  has 
tened  still  more.  Circumstances  independent  of  my  will 
alone  have  retarded  a  publication  prepared  more  than  a 
month  ago. 

ORANGE,  March  19,  1861. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAP.  PAGK 

INTRODUCTION, 9 

I. — AMERICAN  SLAVERY, 13 

II. — WHERE  THE  NATION  WAS  DRIFTING  BEFORE  THE  ELEC 
TION  OF  MR.  LINCOLN, .20 

IE. — WHAT  THE  ELECTION  OF  MR.  LINCOLN  SIGNIFIES,    .          35 

IT. — WHAT  WE  ARE  TO  THINK  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,        .      52 

Y. — THE  CHURCHES  AND  SLAVERY,          ....  72 

YI. — THE  GOSPEL  AND  SLAVERY, 92 

YIL— THE  PRESENT  CRISIS, 107 

YHT. — PROBABLE  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  CRISIS,     .        .        .    141 
IX. — COEXISTENCE  OF  THE  TWO  RACES  AFTER  EMANCIPATION,  194 
X. — THE    PRESENT    CRISIS   WILL  REGENERATE  THE  INSTITU 
TIONS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,        ....    225 
CONCLUSION, 244 


A  GREAT  PEOPLE  RISING. 


INTRODUCTION. 

THE  title  of  this  work  will  produce  the  effect  of 
a  paradox.  The  general  opinion  is  that  the  United 
States  continued  to  pursue  an  upward  course  until 
the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  that  since  then 
they  have  been  declining.  It  is  not  difficult,  and 
it  is  very  necessary,  to  show  that  this  opinion  is  ab 
solutely  false.  Before  the  recent  victory  of  the  ad 
versaries  of  slavery,  the  American  Confederation,  in 
spite  of  its  external  progress  and  its  apparent  pros 
perity,  was  suffering  from  a  fearful  malady  which 
had  well-nigh  proved  mortal ;  now,  an  operation 
has  taken  place,  the  sufferings  have  increased,  the 
gravity  of  the  situation  is  revealed  for  the  first  time, 
perhaps,  to  inattentive  eyes.  Does  this  mean  that  the 
situation  was  not  grave  when  it  did  not  appear  so  ? 
Does  this  mean  that  we  must  deplore  a  violent  crisis 
which  alone  can  bring  the  cure  ? 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

I  do  not  deplore  it — I  admire  it.  I  recognize 
in  this  energetic  reaction  against  the  disease,  the 
moral  vigor  of  a  people  habituated  to  the  laborious 
struggles  of  liberty.  The  rising  of  a  people  is  one 
of  the  rarest  and  most  marvellous  prodigies  pre 
sented  by  the  annals  of  humanity.  Ordinarily,  na 
tions  that  begin  to  decline,  decline  constantly  more 
and  more  ;  a  rare  power  of  life  is  needed  to  retrieve 
their  position,  and  stop  in  its  course  a  decay  once 
begun. 

We  have  a  strange  way  of  seconding  the  gen 
erous  enterprise  into  which  the  United  States  have 
entered  with  so  much  courage !  We  prophesy  to 
them  nothing  but  misfortunes  ;  we  almost  tell  them 
that  they  have  ceased  to  exist ;  we  give  them  to 
understand,  that  in  electing  Mr.  Lincoln  they  have 
renounced  their  greatness  ;  that  they  have  precipi 
tated  themselves  head  foremost  into  an  abyss  ;  that 
they  have  ruined  their  prosperity,  sacrificed  their 
future,  rendered  henceforth  impossible  the  magnifi 
cent  character  which  was  reserved  to  them.  Mr. 
Buchanan,  we  seem  to  say,  is  the  last  President  of 
the  Union. 

This,  thank  God,  is  the  reverse  of  the  truth. 
But  lately,  indeed,  the  United  States  were  advan 
cing  to  their  ruin  ;  but  lately  there  was  reason  to 


INTRODUCTION.  11 

mourn  in  thinking  of  them  ;  the  steps  might  have 
been  counted  which  it  remained  for  them  to  take  to 
complete  the  union  of  their  destiny  with  that  of  an 
accursed  and  perishable  institution — an  institution 
which  corrupts  and  destroys  every  thing  with  which 
it  comes  in  contact.  To-day,  new  prospects  are 
opening  to  them  ;  they  will  have  to  combat,  to 
labor,  to  suffer  ;  the  crime  of  a  century  is  not  re 
paired  in  a  day  ;  the  right  path  when  long  forsaken 
is  not  found  again  without  effort ;  guilty  traditions 
and  old  complicities  are  not  broken  through  with 
out  sacrifices.  It  is  none  the  less  true,  notwith 
standing,  that  the  hour  of  effort  and  of  sacrifice, 
grievous  as  it  may  be,  is  the  very  hour  of  deliver 
ance.  The  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  will  be  one  of 
the  great  dates  of  American  history  ;  it  closes  the 
past,  but  it  opens  the  future.  With  it  is  about  to 
commence,  if  the  same  spirit  be  maintained,  and  if 
excessive  concessions  do  not  succeed  in  undoing  all 
that  has  been  done,  a  new  era,  at  once  purer  and 
greater  than  that  which  has  just  ended. 

Let  others  accuse  me  of  optimism ;  I  willingly 
agree  to  it..  I  believe  that  optimism  is  often  right 
here  below.  W&  need  hope ;  we  need  sometimes 
to  receive  good  news ;  we  need  to  see  sometimes 
the  bright  side  of  things.  The  bright  side  is  often 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

the  true  side  ;  if  Love  is  "blindfolded,  I  see  a  triple 
bandage  on  the  eyes  of  Hate.  Kindliness  has  its 
privileges  ;  and  I  do  not  think  myself  in  a  worse 
position  than  another  to  judge  the  United  States 
because  they  inspire  me  with  an  earnest  sympathy  ; 
because,  after  having  mourned  their  faults  and 
trembled  at  their  perils,  I  have  joyfully  saluted  the 
noble  and  manly  policy  of  which  the  election  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  is  the  symptom.  Is  it  not  true,  that  at 
the  first  news  we  all  seemed  to  breathe  a  whiff*  of 
pure  and  free  air  from  the  other  side  of  the  ocean  ? 
It  is  a  pleasure,  in  times  like  ours,  to  feel  that 
certain  principles  still  live ;  that  they  will  be 
obeyed,  cost  what  it  may  ;  that  questions  of  con 
science  can  yet  sometimes  weigh  down  questions 
of  profit.  The  abolition  of  slavery  will  be,  I  have 
always  thought,  the  principal  conquest  of  the  nine 
teenth  century.  This  will  be  its  recommendation 
in  the  eyes  of  posterity,  and  the  chief  compensation 
for  many  of  its  weaknesses.  As  for  us  old  soldiers 
of  emancipation,  who  have  not  ceased  to  combat 
for  it  for  twenty  years  and  more,  at  the  tribunal 
and  elsewhere,  we  shall  be  excused  without  doubt 
for  seeing  in  the  triumph  of  our  American  friends 
something  else  than  a  subject  of  lamentation. 


CHAPTER    I. 

AMERICAN     SLAVERY. 

IF  they  had  not  triumphed,  do  you  know  who 
would  hare  gained  the  victory  ?  Slavery  is  only  a 
word — a  vile  word,  doubtless,  but  to  which  we  in 
time  become  habituated.  To  what  do  we  not  be 
come  habituated  ?  We  have  stores  of  indulgence 
and  indifference  for  the  social  iniquities  which  have 
found  their  way  into  the  current  of  cotemporary 
civilization,  and  which  can  invoke  prescription. 
So  we  have  come  to  speak  of  American  slavery 
with  perfect  sang  froid.  We  are  not,  therefore,  to 
stop  at  the  word,  but  to  go  straight  to  the  thing ; 
and  the  thing  is  this  : 

Every  day,  in  all  the  Southern  States,  families 
are  sold  at  retail :  the  father  to  one,  the  mother  to 
another,  the  son  to  a  third,  the  young  daughter  to 
a  fourth  ;  and  the  father,  the  mother,  the  children, 
are  scattered  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven  ;  these 


J  1:  AMERICAN    SLAVERY. 

liearts  are  broken,  these  poor  beings  are  given  a 
prey  to  infamy  and  sorrow,  these  marriages  are 
ruptured,  and  adulterous  unions  are  formed  twenty 
leagues,  a  hundred  leagues  away,  in  the  bosom  and 
with  the  assent  of  a  Christian  community.  Eveiy 
day,  too,  the  domestic  slave-trade  carries  on  its 
work  ;  merchants  in  human  flesh  ascend  the  Mis 
sissippi,  to  seek  in  the  producing  States  wherewith 
to  fill  up  the  vacuum  caused  unceasingly  by  slav 
ery  in  the  consuming  States  ;  their  ascent  made, 
they  scour  the  farms  of  Virginia  or  of  Kentucky, 
buying  here  a  boy,  there  a  girl  ;  and  other  liearts 
are  torn,  other  families  are  dispersed,  other  name 
less  crimes  are  accomplished  coolly,  simply,  legally  : 
it  is  the  necessary  revenue  of  the  one,  it  is  the  in 
dispensable  supply  of  the  others.  Must  not  the 
South  live,  and  how  dares  any  one  travesty  a  fact 
so  simple  ?  by  what  right  was  penned  that  eloquent 
calumny  called  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  "  ? 

A  calumny  !  I  ask  how  any  one  would  set  to 
work  to  calumniate  the  customs  which  I  have  just 
described.  Say,  then,  that  the  laws  of  the  South  are 
a  calumny,  that  the  official  acts  of  the  South  are  a 
calumny  ;  for  I  affirm  that  the  simple  reading  of 
these  acts  and  these  laws,  a  glance  at  the  advertise 
ments  of  a  Southern  journal,  saddens  the  henrt 


AMERICAN    SLAVERY.  15 

more,  and  wounds  the  conscience  deeper,  than  the 
most  poignant  pages  of  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe. 
I  admit  willingly  that  there  are  many  masters  who 
are  very  kind  and  very  good.  I  admit  that  there 
are  some  slaves  who  are  relatively  happy.  I  cast 
aside  unhesitatingly  the  stories  of  exceptional  cruel 
ty  ;  it  is  enough  for  me  to  see  that  these  happy 
slaves  expose  themselves  to  a  thousand  deaths  to 
escape  a  situation  declared  "  preferable  to  that  of 
our  workmen."  It  is  enough  for  me  to  hear  the 
heart-rending  cries  of  those  women  and  young  girls 
who,  adjudged  to  the  highest  and  last  bidder,  be 
come,  by  the  law  and  in  a  Christian  country,  the 
property,  yes,  the  property  (excuse  the  word,  it  is 
the  true  one)  of  the  debauchees,  their  purchasers. 
And  remark  here  that  the  virtues  of  the  master  are 
a  weak  guarantee :  he  may  die,  he  may  become 
bankrupt,  and  nothing  then  can  hinder  his  slaves 
from  being  sold  into  the  hands  of  the  buyer  who 
scours  the  country  and  makes  his  choice. 

"We  should  calumniate  the  South  if  we  amused 
ourselves  by  making  a  collection  of  atrocious  deeds, 
in  the  same  manner  that  we  should  calumniate 
France  by  seeking  in  the  Police  Gazette  for  the  de 
scription  of  her  social  state.  There  is,  notwith 
standing,  this  difference  between  the  iniquities  of 


1(>  AMERICAN    SLAVERY. 

slavery  and  our  own :  the  first  are  almost  always 
unpunished,  while  the  second  are  repressed  by 
the  courts.  An  institution  which  permits  evil, 
creates  it  in  a  great  measure :  in  saying  that  m  en 
are  things,  it  necessarily  engenders  more  crimes, 
more  acts  of  violence,  more  cowardly  deeds,  than 
the  imagination  of  romancers  will  ever  invent. 
"When  a  class  has  neither  the  right  to  complain, 
nor  to  defend  itself,  nor  to  testify  in  law  ;  when  it 
cannot  make  its  voice  heard  in  any  manner,  we 
may  he  excused  for  not  taking  in  earnest  the  idyls 
chanted  on  its  felicity.  We  must  be  ignorant  at 
once  of  the  heart  of  man  and  of  history  to  preserve 
the  slightest  doubt  on  this  point.  I  add  that  those 
who,  like  me,  have  had  in  their  hands  the  docu 
ments  of  our  colonial  slavery,  have  become  terribly 
suspicious,  and  are  likely  to  look  with  a  skeptical 
eye  on  these  Arcadian  descriptions,  the  worth  of 
which  they  can  appreciate. 

Once  more,  I  do  not  contest  the  humanity  of 
many  masters,  but  I  remember  that  there  were  hu 
mane  masters  too  in  Martinique,  Guadeloupe,  and 
Bourbon  ;  yet  this  did  not  prevent  the  discovery, 
on  a  rigid  scrutiny,  sometimes  of  excesses,  as  fearful 
as  inevitable,  of  the  discretionary  power  ;  at  others, 
of  a  systematic  depravation,  and  this  to  such  a 


AMERICAN    SLAVERY.  17 

point  that  in  one  of  our  colonies  the  custom  of 
regular  unions  had  become  absolutely  unknown  to 
the  slaves. 

I  cannot  help  believing  that  man  is  the  same 
everywhere.  Never,  in  any  time  or  in  any  lati 
tude,  has  it  been  given  him  to  possess  his  fellow, 
without  fearful  misfortunes  having  resulted  to  both. 
Have  we  not  heard  celebrated  the  delightful  mild 
ness  of  Spanish  slavery  in  Cuba  ?  Travellers  enter 
tained  by  the  Creoles  usually  return  enchanted 
with  it.  Yet,  notwithstanding,  it  is  found  that  on 
quitting  the  cities  and  penetrating  into  the  planta 
tions,  the  most  barbarous  system  of  labor  is  discov 
ered  that  exists  in  the  entire  world.  Cuba  devours 
her  black  population  so  rapidly  that  she  is  unceas 
ingly  obliged  to  purchase  negroes  from  abroad  ; 
and  these,  being  once  on  the  island,  have  not  before 
them  an  average  life  exceeding  ten  years  !  In  the 
United  States,  the  planters  of  the  extreme  South 
are  also  obliged  to  renew  their  supply  of  negroes  ; 
but,  as  they  have  recourse  to  the  domestic  instead 
of  the  African  trade,  and  as  the  domestic  trade  fur 
nishes  slaves  at  an  excessively  high  price,  it  follows 
that  motives  of  interest  oppose  the  adoption  of  the 
destructive  system  of  Cuba.  Other  higher  motives 
also  oppose  it,  I  am  certain ;  and  I  am  far  from 


18  AMEKlCAJtf    SLAVERY. 

comparing  the  system  of  Louisiana  or  the  Carolinas 
to  that  which  prevails  in  the  Spanish  island.  T»re 
exaggerate  nothing,  however ;  and  whatever  in  iv 
be  the  points  of  difference,  we  may  hold  it  as  cer 
tain  that  those  of  resemblance  are  still  more  i  li 
ra  erous  :  the  tree  is  the  same,  it  cannot  but  bear 
the  same  fruits. 

It  must  be  affirmed,  besides,  that  slavery  is  pe 
culiarly  odious  on  that  soil  where  the  equality  of 
mankind  has  been  inscribed  with  so  much  eclat  at 
the  head  of  a  celebrated  constitution.  Liberty  im 
poses  obligations ;  there  is  at  the  bottom  of  the 
human  conscience  something  which  will  always 
cause  slavery  to  be  more  scandalous  at  Washington 
than  at  Havana.  "What  happens  in  the  United 
States  will  be  denounced  more  violently,  more 
loudly,  than  what  happens  in  Brazil ;  and  this  is 
right. 

This  said,  I  pause  :  I  have  not  the  slightest  wish 
to  introduce  here  a  perfectly  superfluous  discussion 
on  the  principle  and  the  consequences  of  slavery. 
I  know  all  with  which  Americans  reproach  us 
Europeans.  It  was  we,  Frenchmen,  Englishmen, 
Spaniards,  Hollanders,  who  imposed  on  them  this 
institution  which  we  take  delight  in  combating — 
this  inheritance  which  we  anathematize  !  Before  at- 


AMERICAN    SLAVERY.  19 

tacking  slavery,  we  would  do  well  to  turn  our  at 
tention  to  our  own  crimes — to  the  oppression  of  the 
weak  in  our  manufactories,  for  instance  !  But  these 
retaliatory  arguments  have  the  fault  of  proving 
nothing  at  all.  We  will  leave  them  ;  we  have  said 
enough  on  the  nature  of  American  slavery ;  let  us 
proceed  to  the  special  study  of  our  work. 


20      WHERE   THE   UNITED   STATES   WERE   DRIFTING 


CHAPTEK    II. 

WHERE   THE    UNITED    STATES    WERE   DRIFTING   BEFORE 
THE   ELECTION    OF   MR.  LINCOLN. 

I  HAVE  spoken  of  the  great  perils  which  the 
United  States  encountered  before  the  election  of 
Mr.  Lincoln.  The  time  has  come  to  enter  into 
some  details  in  justification  of  this  proposition, 
which  must  have  appeared  strange  at  first  sight, 
but  the  terms  of  which  I  have  weighed  well :  if  the 
slavery  party  had  again  achieved  a  victory,  the 
United  States  would  have  gone  to  ruin.  These  are 
the  facts  : 

Formerly,  there  was  but  one  opinion  among 
Americans  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  The  South 
erners  may  have  considered  it  as  a  necessary  evil  ; 
in  any  case,  they  considered  it  as  an  evil.  Carolina 
herself  nobly  resisted  its  introduction  upon  her 
soil ;  other  colonies  did  the  same.  "Washington  in 
scribed  the  wish  in  his  will  that  so  baleful  an  insti- 


BEFORE   THE   ELECTION   OF   iTR.    LIXCOLX.  21 

tution  might  be  promptly  suppressed.  To  pen  up 
slavery,  to  prevent  its  extension,  to  reduce  it  to  the 
role  of  a  local  and  temporary  fact,  which  it  was  de 
termined  to  restrain  still  more — such  was  the  senti 
ment  which  prevailed  in  the  South,  as  in-the  Korth. 
And,  in  fact,  slavery  was  ere  long  abolished  in  the 
majority  of  the  States  composing  the  Union.  To 
day,  slavery  has  become  a  beneficent,  evangelical 
institution,  the  comer-stone  of  republics,  the  foun 
dation  of  all  liberties  ;  it  has  become  a  source  of 
blessings  for  the  blacks  as  for  the  whites.  We  not 
only  are  not  to  think  of  reducing  the  number 
of  slave  States,  but  it  becomes  important  to  increase 
them  unceasingly  :  to  interdict  to  slavery  the  en 
trance  into  a  new  territory  is  almost  iniquitous. 
Such  are  the  theories  proclaimed  by  the  governors, 
by  the  legislators  of  the  cotton  States ;  they  pro 
pose  them  openly,  without  scruple  and  without  cir 
cumlocution,  under  the  name  of  political — what  do 
I  say  ?  of  moral  and  Christian  axioms.  For  these 
theories  they  take  fire,  they  become  excited  ;  they 
feel  that  enthusiasm  which  was  inspired  in  other 
times  by  the  love  of  liberty.  See  entire  popula 
tions,  who,  under  the  eye  of  God,  and  invoking  his 
support,  devote  themselves,  body,  soul,  and  goods, 
to  the  holy  cause  of  slavery,  its  conquests,  its 


indefinite  extension,  its  inter-State  and  African 
trade. 

And  the  conquests  of  slavery  do  not  figure  only 
in  platforms  ;  they  are  pursued  and  accomplished 
effectively  on  the  soil  of  America.  In  the  face  cf 
the  nineteenth  century,  free  Texas  has  been  trans 
formed  into  a  slave  State.  To  create  other  sla^  e 
countries  is  the  aim  proposed  ;  and  slave  countries 
multiply,  and  the  South  does  not  tolerate  the  slight 
est  obstacle  to  conquests  of  this  kind,  and  it  goes 
forward,  and  nothing  stops  it — I  am  wrong,  the 
election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  has  stopped  it,  and  this  is 
why  its  fury  breaks  out  to-day. 

One  would  be  furious  for  less  cause !  Every 
thing  had  gone  so  well  till  then  !  The  South  spoke 
as  a  master,  and  the  Xorth  humbly  bowed  its  head 
before  its  imperious  commands.  Its  exactions  in 
creased  from  day  to  day,  and  it  was  not  difficult  to 
see  to  what  abysses  it  was  leading  the  entire  Amer 
ican  Union.  Shall  we  give  our  readers  an  idea  of 
this  crescendo  of  pretensions  ? 

"We  will  content  ourselves  with  going  back  to 
the  last  Mexican  war  and  to  the  "Wilmot  proviso. 
This  was,  as  is  known,  a  measure,  or  proviso,  stipu 
lating  that  slavery  could  not  be  introduced  into 
conquered  provinces.  Such  was  the  starting  point, 


BEFORE   THE   ELECTION   OF   ME.  LINCOLN.  23 

It  was  sought  then  to  prevent  the  territorial  exten 
sion  of  slavery.  This  seems  to  me  reasonable 
enough  ;  and  I  am  not  astonished  that  the  Lincoln 
platform  tends  simply  to  return  to  this  primitive 
policy.  Some  time  after  this,  the  Missouri  ques 
tion  presents  itself:  Shall  the  number  of  slave 
States  be  increased  ?  Is  this  leprosy  to  be  permit 
ted  to  extend  ?  "Will  the  Northern  countries  be 
invaded  in  their  turn  ?  The  struggle  is  earnest  and 
long.  Finally  the  South  carries  the  cause  ;  the  in 
troduction  of  slavery  into  the  new  State  is  accorded 
it,  but  on  condition  that  this  introduction  shall  be 
henceforth  prohibited  beyond  the  36th  degree  of 
latitude.  This  is  called  the  Missouri  Compromise. 

Ere  long  the  South  complains  of  this  limit  set  to 
the  development  of  its  "  peculiar  institution." 
Other  combats,  another  victory.  A  bill  proposed 
by  Mr.  Douglas  annuls  the  Missouri  Compromise, 
and,  based  on  the  principle  of  local  sovereignties, 
withdraws  from  Congress  the  right  to  interfere  in 
the  question  of  slavery. 

The  "Wilmot  proviso  could  not  subsist  in  the 
presence  of  these  absolute  pretensions.  The  liberty 
of  slavery  (pardon  me  this  mournful  and  involun 
tary  conjunction)  finds  an  application  on  the  spot. 
At  this  juncture,  Texas,  a  province  detached  from 


24:      WHERE   THE   UNITED    STATES    WERE   DRIFTING 

Mexico,  is  admitted  in  the  quality  of  a  slave 
State. 

What  happens  then\?  The  partisans  of  slavery, 
hampered  by  nothing  any  longer,  either  by  limits 
at  the  North,  or  limits  at  the  South,  or  provisos,  or 
compromises,  encounter,  to  their  great  horror,  J:n 
obstacle  of  quite  a  different  nature.  The  local  sov 
ereignty  which  they  have  invoked  turns  against 
them  ;  in  the  Territory  of  Kansas,  the  majority 
votes  the  exclusion  of  slavery.  At  once  the  South 
erners  change  theory ;  against  local  sovereignty 
they  invoke  the  central  power  ;  they  demand,  they 
exact  that  the  decisions  of  the  majority  in  Kansas 
shall  be  trodden  under  foot ;  they  put  forward  the 
natural  right  of  slavery.  Why  shall  they  be  pre 
vented  from  settling  in  a  Territory  with  the  slaves, 
their  property  ?  "When  this  Territory  shall  be  by 
and  by  transformed  into  a  State,  there  will  doubt 
less  be  a  right  to  determine  the  question ;  but  to 
abolish  shivery  is  quite  a  different  thing  from  ex 
cluding  it. 

If  the  South  did  not  win  the  cause  this  time,  it 
was  not  the  fault  of  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  but  of  the  inhabitants  of  Kansas.  As  for 
Mr.  Buchanan,  he  showed  himself  what  he  has  con 
stantly  been,  the  most  humble  servant  of  the  slavery 


BEFOKE    THE    ELECTION    OF    Mil.  LINCOLN.  25 

party.  Tliey  came  together  into  collision  with 
squatter  sovereignty :  they  found  for  the  first  time 
in  their  path  that  solid  resistance  of  the  West  which 
was  manifested  in  the  last  election,  and  which,  I 
firmly  hope,  is  about  to  save  America.  But  in  the 
mean  time,  they  had  taken  a  new  step  forward — a 
formidable  step,  and  one  which  introduced  them 
into  the  very  bosom  of  the  free  States :  they  had 
obtained  a  decision  from  the  Supreme  Court — the 
Dred  Scott  decree.  In  the  preamble  of  this  too 
celebrated  decision,  the  highest  judicial  power  of 
the  Confederation  did  not  fear  to  proclaim  two  prin 
ciples  :  first,  that  there  is  no  difference  between  a 
slave  and  any  other  kind  of  property  \  secondly, 
that  all  American  citizens  may  settle  everywhere 
with  their  property. 

What  a  menace  for  the  free-soilers  !  How  easy 
to  see  to  what  lengths  the  South  would  shortly 
go  !  Since  slavery  constituted  property  like  any 
other,  it  was  necessary  to  prohibit  the  majority 
from  proscribing  it  in  States  as  well  as  in  Terri 
tories.  "Who  knew  whether  we  should  not  some 
day  see  slaves  and  even  slave-markets  (the  right  of 
property  carries  with  it  that  of  sale)  in  the  streets 
even  of  Philadelphia  or  Boston  ! 

Let  no  one  cry  out  against  this :  those  who  de- 
2 


26       WHERE    THE    UNITED    STATES    WEEE    DKIFTTNG 

manded  and  those  who  framed  the  Dred  Scott  de 
cision  knew  probably  what  they  wished  to  do. 
"With  the  right  of  property  understood  in  this  wise, 
no  State  has  the  power  either  to  vote  the  real  ab  > 
lition  of  slavery,  or  to  forbid  the  introduction  of 
slaves,  or  to  refuse  their  extradition.  And,  effect 
ively,  horrible  laws,  ordering  fugitive  slaves  to  be 
given  up,  were  accorded  to  the  violent  demands  of 
the  South.  Liberty  by  contact  with  the  soil,  that 
great  maxim  of  our  Europe,  was  interdicted  Ameri 
ca  ;  the  very  States  that  most  detested  slavery  were 
condemned  to  assist,  indignant  and  shuddering,  in 
the  federal  invasion  of  a  sheriff  entering  their 
homes  to  lay  hands  on  a  poor  negro,  who  had  be 
lieved  in  their  hospitality,  and  who  was  about  to 
be  delivered  up  to  the  whip  of  the  planter. 

It  was  asking  much  of  the  patience  of  the  Kortb  ; 
yet,  notwithstanding,  this  patience  was  not  yet  at 
an  end.  The  Administration  was  given  up  a  prey 
to  the  will  of  the  Southerners.  On  their  prohibi 
tion,  the  mails  ceased  to  carry  books,  journals',  let 
ters,  which  excited  their  suspicion.  They  had  seized 
upon  the  policy  of  the  Union,  and  they  ruled  it  ac 
cording  to  their  liking.  ~No  one  has  forgotten  those 
enterprises,  favored  underhand,  then  disavowed  after 
failure,  those  filibustering  expeditions  in  Central 


BEFOKE   THE    ELECTION    OF    MR.  LINCOLN.  27 

America  and  in  the  island  of  Cuba.  They  were 
the  policy  of  the  South,  executed  by  Mr.  Bu 
chanan  with  his  accustomed  docility.  The  point 
in  question  was  to  make  conquests,  and  conquests 
for  slavery.  By  any  means,  and  at  any  price,  the 
South  was  to  procure  new  States.  Cuba  would 
furnish  some,  several  would  be  carved  out  of  Mexico 
and  Central  America ;  for  otherwise  the  slavery 
majorities  would  be  compromised  in  Congress,  and 
slavery  would  be  forced  to  renounce  forever  the 
election  of  the  Presidents  of  free  America.  To 
avoid  such  a  misfortune,  there  is  nothing  that  they 
would  not  have  been  ready  to  undertake. 

Thus,  step  after  step,  and  exaction  after  exaction, 
overthrowing,  one  after  the  other,  all  barriers,  the 
Wilrnot  proviso,  the  Missouri  Compromise,  the  right 
of  majorities  in  the  Territories,  the  very  sovereignty 
of  the  States  annulled  by  the  Dred  Scott  decision, 
the  South  had  succeeded  in  drawing  the  United 
States  into  those '  violent  and  dishonest  political 
practices  which  filled  the  administration  of  Mr.  Bu 
chanan.  The  barriers  of  public  probity,  and  the 
right  of  men,  yielded  in  turn  ;  the  administration 
dared  write  officially  that  Cuba  was  necessary  to 
the  United  States,  and  that  the  affranchisement  of 
slaves  in  Cuba  would  be  a  legitimate  cause  of  war. 


28       WHEKE    THE    UNITED    STATES    WEKE    DIUFTLM; 

The  United  States  were  yoked  to  the  car  of  slavery  : 
to  make  slave  States,  to  conquer  Territories  for  slav 
ery,  to  prevent  the  terrible  misfortune  of  an  abol  - 
tion  of  slavery,  such  was  the  programme.  In  nego 
tiations,  in  elections,  nothing  else  was  perceive  1 
than  this.  If  the  liberty  of  the  seas  and  the  inde 
pendence  of  the  flag  were  proudly  claimed,  it  wrs 
by  the  order  of  the  South,  and  there  resulted  thence, 
whether  desired  or  not,  a  progressive  resurrection 
of  the  African  slave-trade ;  if  candidates  in  favr  r 
of  the  maintenance  of  the  Union  were  recommended, 
it  was  to  assure  the  conquests  of  slavery  within  and 
without,  the  invasion  of  neighboring  countries,  the 
extradition  of  fugitive  slaves,  the  subjugation  of 
majorities  rebellious  to  the  South,  the  suppression 
of  laws  disagreeable  to  the  South,  the  overthrow  of 
the  last  obstacles  which  fettered  the  progress  of  the 
South 

And  it  was  thus  far,  to  this  degree  of  disorder 
and  abasement,  that  a  noble  people  had  been 
dragged  downwards  in  the  course  of  years,  sinking 
constantly  deeper,  abandoning,  one  by  one,  its 
guarantees,  losing  its  titles  to  the  esteem  of  other 
nations,  approaching  the  abyss,  seeing  the  hour 
draw  nigh  in  which  to  rise  would  be  impossible, 
bringing  down  maledictions  upon  itself,  forcing 


BEFORE   THE   ELECTION    OF   ME.  LINCOLN.  29 

those  who  love  it  to  reflect  on  the  words  of  one  of 
its  most  illustrious  leaders :  "  I  tremble  for  my 
country,  when  I  remember  that  God  is  just !  " 

All  this  under  the  tyrannical  and  pitiless  influ 
ence  of  a  minority  constantly  transformed  into  a 
majority !  Picture  to  yourself  a  man  on  a  vessel 
standing  by  the  gun-room  with  a  lighted  match  in 
his  hand ;  he  is  alone,  but  the  rest  obey  him,  for  at 
the  first  disobedience  he  will  blow  up  himself  with 
all  the  crew.  This  is  precisely  what  has  been  go 
ing  on  in  America  since  she  went  adrift.  The 
working  of  the  ship  was  commanded  by  the  man 
who  held  the  match.  "  At  the  first  disobedience, 
we  will  quit  you."  Such  has  always  been  the  lan 
guage  of  the  Southern  States.  They  were  known  to 
be  capable  of  keeping  their  word ;  therefore,  there 
ceased  to  be  but  one  argument  in  America :  seces 
sion.  "  Revoke  the  compromise,  or  else -secession  ; 
modify  the  legislation  of  the  free  States,  or  else  se 
cession  ;  risk  adventures,  and  undertake  conquests 
with  us  for  slavery,  or  else  secession ;  lastly  and 
above  all,  never  suffer  yourselves  to  elect  a  presi 
dent  who  is  not  our  candidate,  or  else  secession." 

Thus  spoke  the  South,  and  the  North  submitted. 
Let  us  not  be  unduly  surprised  at  it,  there  was  pa 
triotism  in  this  weakness  ;  many  citizens,  inimical 


30       WIIEliE    THE    UNITED    STATES    WEltE    DK1FTING 

to  slavery,  forbore  to  combat  its  progress,  in  order 
to  avoid  what  appeared  to  them  a  greater  evil. 
Declivities  like  these  are  descended  quickly,  and  the 
deplorable  presidency  of  Mr.  Buchanan  stands  to 
testify  to  this.  The  policy  of  the  United  States  had 
become  doubtful ;  their  good  renown  was  dwindling 
away  even  with  their  warmest  friends  ;  their  cause 
was  becoming  blended  more  and  more  with  that  of 
servitude ;  their  liberties  were  compromised,  and  the 
Federal  institutions  were  bending  before  the  "  insti 
tution  "  of  the  South ;  no  more  rights  of  the  majority 
before  the  "  institution  ;  "  no  more  sovereignty  of  the 
States  before  the  "  institution."  The  ultra  policy  of 
Mr.  Buchanan  had  coveted  Cuba,  essayed  violence 
in  Kansas,  given  up  the  government  of  America  in 
fine  to  a  cabinet  of  such  a  stamp,  that  a  majority 
was  nearly  found  in  it,  ready  to  disavow  Major  An 
derson,  and  to  order  the  evacuation  of  forts  of  the 
Confederation,  menaced  by  Carolinian  forces. 

During  this  time,  an  incredible  fact  had  come 
to  light.  It  was  one  of  the  glories  of  America  to  have 
abolished  the  African  slave  trade  before  any  other  na 
tion,  and  even  to  have  put  it  on  the  same  footing  with 
the  crime  of  piracy.  The  South  had  openly  de 
manded  the  re-establishment  of  a  commerce  which 
alone  could  furinsh  it  at  some  day  with  the  number 


BEFORE   THE   ELECTION    OF   MK.  LINCOLN.  31 

of  negroes  proportioned  to  its  vast  designs.  What 
had  Mr.  Buchanan  done?  He  doubtless  had  not 
consented  officially  to  an  enormity  which  Congress, 
on  its  part,  would  not  have  tolerated  ;  but  repression 
had  become  so  lax  under  his  administration,  that 
the  number  of  slave  ships  fitted  out  in  the  ports  of 
the  United  States  had  at  length  become  very  con- 

O  •/ 

siderable.  The  port  of  Xew  York  alone,  which 
participates  but  too  much  in  the  misdeeds  and  ten 
dencies  of  the  South,  fitted  out  eighty-five  slavers 
between  the  months  of  February,  1859,  and  July, 
1860.  These  slavers  proudly  bore  the  United 
States'  flag  over  the  seas,  and  defied  the  English 
cruisers.  As  for  the  American  cruisers,  Mr.  Bu 
chanan  had  taken  care  to  remove  them  all  from 
Cuba,  where  every  one  knows  that  the  living  car- 
groes  are  landed.  The  slave  trade  is  therefore  in 
the  height  of  prosperity,  whatever  the  last  presi 
dential  message  may  say  of  it,  and  as  to  the  appli 
cation  of  the  laws  concerning  piracy,  I  do  not  see 
that  they  have  had  many  victims. 

We  can  now  measure  the  perils  which  menaced 
the  United  States.  It  was  not  such  or  such  a  meas 
ure  in  particular,  but  a  collection  of  measures,  all 
directed  towards  the  same  end,  and  tending  mutu 
ally  to  complete  each  other  :  conquests,  the  domestic 


32      WHERE    THE    UNITED    STATES   WERE    DRIFTING 

and  the  foreign  slave  trade,  the  overthrow  of  the  few 
barriers  opposed  to  the  extension  of  slavery,  the  de 
basement  of  institutions,  the  definitive  enthroning  o ? 
an  adventurous  policy,  a  policy  without  principles 
and  without  scruples;  to  this  the  country  was  advanc 
ing  with  rapid  strides.  Do  they  who  raise  their  hand  s 
and  eyes  to  heaven,  because  the  election  of  Mr.  Lii  - 
coin  has  caused  the  breaking  forth  of  an  inevitable 
crisis,  fancy  then  that  the  crisis  would  have  been 
less  serious  if  it  had  broken  forth  four  years  later, 
when  the  evil  would  have  been  without  remedy  I 
Already,  the  five  hundred  thousand  slaves  of  the 
last  century  have  given  place  to  four  millions;  was 
it  advisable  to  wait  until  there  were  twenty  mil 
lions,  and  until  vast  territories,  absorbed  by  Amer 
ican  power,  had  been  peopled  by  blacks  torn  from 
Africa  \  "Was  it  advisable  to  await  the  time  when 
the  South  should  have  become  decidedly  the  most 
important  part  of  the  Confederation,  and  when  the 
Xorth,  forced  to  secede,  should  have  left  to  others 
the  name,  the  prestige,  the  flag  of  the  United  States  ? 
Do  they  fancy  that,  by  chance,  with  the  supremacy 
of  the  South,  with  its  conquests,  with  the  monstrous 
development  of  its  slavery,  secession  would  have 
been  avoided  ?  ~No  !  it  would  have  appeared  some 
day  as  a  necessary  fact ;  only  it  would  have  been 


BEFORE   THE   ELECTION    OF    MR.  LINCOLN.  33 

accomplished  under  different  auspices  and  in  differ 
ent  conditions.  Such  a  secession  would  have  been 
death,  a  shameful  death. 

And  slavery  itself,  who  imagines,  then,  that  it 
can  be  immortal  ?  It  is  in  vain  to  extend  it ;  it  will 
perish  amidst  its  conquests  and  through  its  con 
quests  :  one  can  predict  this  without  being  a  prophet. 
But,  between  the  suppression  of  slavery  such  as  we 
hope  will  some  time  take  place,  and  that  which  we 
should  have  been  forced  to  fear,  in  case  the  South 
had  carried  it  still  further,  is  the  distance  which 
separates  a  hard  crisis  from  a  terrible  catastrophe. 
The  South  knows  not  what  nameless  misfortunes  it 
has  perhaps  just  escaped.  If  it  had  been  so  unfor 
tunate  as  to  conquer,  if  it  had  been  so  unfortunate 
as  to  carry  out  its  plans,  to  create  slave  States,  to 
recruit  with  negroes  from  Africa,  it  would  have  cer 
tainly  paved  the  way,  with  its  own  hands,  for  one 
of  those  bloody  disasters  before  which  the  imagina 
tion  recoils :  it  would  have  shut  itself  out  from  all 
chance  of  salvation. 

It  is  not  possible,  in  truth,  to  put  an  end  to  cer 
tain  crimes,  and  wholly  avoid  their  chastisement ; 
there  will  always  be  some  suffering  in  deliver 
ing  the  American  Confederation  from  slavery,  and 
it  depends  to-day  again  upon  the  South  to  aggra- 
2* 


3-4       WI1KKE    TlIJi    UNITED    STATES    \VEKE    DKIFIIJSW. 

vate,  in  a  fearful  measure,  the  pain  of  the  transition. 
"However,  what  would  not  have  been  possible  with 
the  election  of  Mr.  Douglas  or  Mr.  Breckenridge, 
has  become  possible  now  with  the  election  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  ;  we  are  at  liberty  to  hope  henceforth  for 
the  rising  of  a  great  people. 


CHAPTER    III. 

WHAT   THE   ELECTION    OF    MR.  LINCOLN    SIGNIFIES. 

I  THINK  that  I  have  justified  the  fundamental 
idea  of  this  work,  and  the  title  which  I  have  given 
it.  If  the  slavery  policy  had  achieved  a  new 
triumph  ;  if  the  Korth  had  not  elected  its  Presi 
dent,  the  first  that  has  belonged  to  it  in  full  since 
the  existence  of  the  Confederation ;  if  supremacy 
had  not  ranged  itself  in  fine  on  the^side  with  force 
and  justice,  this  unstable  balance  would  have  had 
its  hour  of  downfall :  and  what  a  downfall !  Of 
so  much  true  liberty,  of  so  much  progress,  of  so 
many  noble  examples,  what  would  have  been  left 
standing  ?  The  secession  of  the  South  is  not  the 
secession  of  the  Jsorth ;  affranchisement  with  four 
millions  of  slaves  is  not  affranchisement  with  twenty 
millions ;  the  crisis  of  1861  is  not  that  of  1865  or 
of  1869.  The  United  States,  I  repeat,  with  a  pro- 


36     WHAT   THE   ELECTION    OF   MR.  LINCOLN    SIGNIFIES. 

found  and  studied  conviction, — the  United  States 
have  just  been  saved. 

There  are  those  who  ask  gravely  whether  the 
electors  of  Mr.  Lincoln  have  a  plan  all  ready  tc 
effect  the  abolition  of  slavery.  "We  answer  thai 
this  is  not  in  question.  Among  the  influential  and 
earnest  men  of  the  victorious  party,  not  one  could 
be  cited  who  would  think  of  proposing  any  plan 
whatever  of  emancipation.  One  thing  alone  if 
proposed  :  to  check  the  conquests  of  slavery.  That 
it  shall  not  be  extended,  that  it  shall  be  confined 
within  its  present  limits,  is  all  that  is  sought  to 
day.  The  policy  of  the  founders  of  the  Con 
federation  has  become  that  of  their  successors  in 
turn ;  and  to  this  policy,  what  can  be  objected  '( 
Is  not  the  sovereignty  of  the  States  respected  ?  do 
they  not  remain  free  to  regulate  what  concerns 
them  ?  do  they  not  preserve  the  right  of  postponing, 
so  long  as  they  deem  proper,  the  solution  of  a 
dreaded  problem  ?  could  not  this  solution  be  thought 
over  and  prepared  by  those  who  best  know  its 
elements  ? 

The  matter  is,  indeed,  more  complicated  and 
difficult  than  is  generally  imagined.  Should  we 
be  imprudent  enough  to  meddle  with  it,  we  might 
rightfully  be  blamed.  Here,  summary  proceedings 


WHAT   THE   ELECTION    OF   MK.  LINCOLN    SIGNIFIES.     37 

are  evidently  not  admissible.  Time  and  the  spirit 
of  Christianity  must  do  their  work  by  degrees ; 
they  will  do  it,  be  sure,  provided  the  evil  be  cir 
cumscribed,  provided  the  seat  of  the  conflagration 
be  hemmed  in  and  prevented  henceforth  from 
spreading  further. 

Now,  such  is  the  great  result  acquired  by  the 
election  of  Mr.  Lincoln ;  it  is  nothing  more  than 
this,  but  it  is  all  this  :  it  is  prudence  in  the  present, 
and  it  is  also  the  certainty  of  success  in  the' future. 
Emancipation  is  by  no  means  decreed ;  it  will  not 
be  for  a  long  time,  perhaps :  yet  the  principle  of 
emancipation  is  established,  irrevocably  established 
in  the  sight  of  all.  Irrevocability  has  prodigious 
power  over  our  minds  :  without  being  conscious  of 
it,  we  make  way  for  it ;  we  arrange  in  view  of  it 
our  conduct,  our  plans,  and  even  our  doctrines. 
Once  fully  convinced  that  its  propagandism  is 
checked,  that  the  future  of  which  it  dreamed  has 
no  longer  any  chances  of  success,  the  South  itself 
will  become  accustomed  to  consider  its  destiny 
under  a  wholly  new  aspect.  The  border  States,  in 
which  emancipation  is  easy,  will  range  themselves 
one  after  another  on  the  side  of  liberty.  Thus  the 
extent  of  the  evil  will  become  reduced  of  itself,  and 
instead  of  advancing,  as  during  some  years  past. 


38      WHAT    THE    ELECTION    OF    Mli.  LINCOLN    SIGNIFIES. 

towards  a  colossal  development  of  servitude,  it  will 
proceed  in  the  direction  of  its  gradual  attenuation. 

I  reason  on  the  hypothesis  of  a  final  mainten 
ance  of  the  Union,  whatever  may  be  the  incidents 
of  temporary  secession.  I  am  not  ignorant  that 
there  are  other  hypotheses,  which  may  possibly  be 
realized,  and  which  I  shall  examine  in  the  course 
of  this  treatise  ;  but  whatever  may  happen,  I  have  a 
full  right  to  call  to  mind  the  true  scope  of  the  vote 
which  has  just  been  taken.  It  does  not  involve  the 
slightest  idea  of  present  emancipation  ;  it  contents 
itself  with  checking  the  progress  of  slavery  ;  and 
to  check  its  progress  is,  doubtless,  to  diminish  the 
perils  of  its  future  abolition. 

It  was  important  to  present  this  observation,  for 
nothing  perverts  our  judgment  of  the  American 
crisis  more  than  the  inexact  definitions  which  are 
given  of  abolitionism.  We  willingly  picture  abo 
litionists  to  ourselves  as  madmen,  seeking  to  attain 
their  end  on  the  spot,  regardless  of  all  else,  through 
blood  and  ruin  !  That  there  may  be  such  is  possi 
ble,  is  even  inevitable  ;  but  the  men  who  exercise 
any  political  influence  over  the  Korth  have  not  for 
a  moment  adopted  such  theories.  This  is  so  true, 
that  the  other  day,  at  Boston,  the  people  themselves 
(the  people  who  nominated  Mr.  Lincoln)  dispersed 


WHAT   THE    ELECTION    OF    MK.   LINCOLN    SIGNIFIES.     39 

a  meeting  intended  to  discuss  plans  of  immediate 
emancipation. 

What  if  abolitionism,  moreover,  be  a  party  ? 
what  if  it  make  use  of  the  means  employed  by  par- 
*  ties  ?  what  if  it  have  its  journals,  its  publicists, 
its  orators  ?  what  if  it  seek  allies  ?  what  if  it  be 
based  on  interests  which  may  be  given  it  bv  the 
majority  ?  what  if  it  appeal  to  the  passions  of  the 
North,  as  the  slavery  party  appeals  to  those  of  the 
South  ?  I  do  not  see,  in  truth,  why  this  should  as 
tonish  us.  I  am  far  from  believing  that  all  the 
acts  of  abolitionism  are  worthy  of  approbation ;  I 
say  only  that  it  would  be  puerile  to  repudiate  a 
great  party  for  the  sole  reason  that  it  has  the  bear 
ing  of  a  party.  The  duty  of  citizens  in  a  free 
country  is  to  choose  between  parties,  and  to  unite 
with  that  whose  cause  is  just  and  holy.  Let  them 
protest  against  wrong  measures,  let  them  refuse  to 
participate  in  them — nothing  can  be  better  ;  but  to 
withdraw  into  a  sort  of  political  Thebais  because 
the  noblest  parties  have  stains  on  their  banner,  is, 
in  truth,  to  turn  their  back  on  the  civil  obligations 
of  real  life. 

The  abolition  party  is  a  noble  one.  Several  of 
its  champions  have  given  their  lives  to  propagate 
their  faith.  But  lately,  indeed,  the  Texan  journals 


40     WHAT   THE   ELECTION    OF    ME.  LINCOLN    SIGNIFIES. 

took  pains  to  tell  us  that  a  number  of  them  had 
just  been  hung  in  that  State ;  and,  without  e^en 
speaking  of  these  noble  victims,  whose  death  com 
pletes  the  dishonor  of  the  Southern  cause,  are  there 
any  bolder  deeds  in  the  history  of  mankind  than  those 
of  the  citizens  of  New  England  who,  to  wrest  Kan 
sas  from  slavery,  went  thither  to  build  their  cabins, 
"thus  braving  a  fearful  struggle,  not  only  with  [he 
slaveholders,  but  with  the  President,  his  illegal 
measures,  and  the  troops  charged  with  maintaining 
them  ? 

We  must  fight  to  conquer.  This  seems  little 
understood  by  those  who  reproach  abolitionism 
with  having  been  a  party  militant ;  to  hear  them, 
the  true  way  of  bringing  about  the  abolition  of 
slavery  was  to  let  it  alone  :  to  attack  was  to  exas 
perate  it. 

This  argument  is  so  unfortunate  as  to  be  em 
ployed  in  all  bad  causes.  I  remember  that  when 
'measures  were  taken  against  the  slave  trade,  we 
were  told  that  the  sufferings  of  the  slaves  would  be 
thus  increased,  and  that  the  slavers  would  be  csc'Cts-- 
perated.  Later,  when  we  held  up  to  the  indigna 
tion  of  the  whole  world  the  Protestant  intolerance 
of  Sweden,  we  were  assured  that  these  public  de 
nunciations  would  put  back  the  question  instead 


WHAT   THE   ELECTION    OF   ME.  LINCOLN    SIGNIFIES.     41 

of  accelerating  it.  "We  persevered,  and  we  did 
rightly.  Sweden  is  advancing,  though  at  too  slow 
a  pace,  towards  religious  liberty.  It  would  be 
difficult  to  cite  any  social  iniquities  that  have  re 
formed  of  themselves  ;  and,  since  the  existence  of 
the  world,  the  method  which  consists  in  attacking 
evil  has  been  the  one  sanctioned  by  success.  In 
America  itself,  the  progress  made  by  the  border 
States  does  not  seem  to  confirm  what  is  told  us  of 
the  reaction  caused  by  the  aggressions  of  abolition 
ism.  In  Virginia,  in  Kentucky,  in  Missouri,  in 
Delaware,  etc.,  the  liberty  party  has  been  continu 
ally  gaining  ground ;  and  the  votes  received  in  the 
slave  States  by  Mr.  Lincoln  prove  it  a  very  great 
mistake  to  suppose  letting  alone  to  be  the  condition 
of  progress.  "Would  to  God  that  slavery  had  not 
been  let  alone  when  the  republic  of  the  United 
States  was  founded  !  Then,  abolition  was  easy,  the 
slaves  were  few  in  number,  and  no  really  formida 
ble  antagonism  was  in  play.  Unhappily,  false 
prudence  made  itself  heard  :  it  was  resolved  to  keep 
silence,  and  not  to  deprive  the  South  of  the  honor 
of  a  voluntary  emancipation — in  fine,  to  reserve 
the  question  for  the  future.  The  future  has  bent 
under  the  weight  of  a  task  which  has  continued  to 
increase  with  years,  thanks  to  letting  it  alone. 


4:2     WHAT    THE    ELECTION    OF    MK.  LINCOLN    SIGNIFIES. 

A  little  more  letting  alone,  and  the  weight 
would  have  crushed  America  ;  it  was  time  to  act. 
The  Abolition  party,  or  rather  the  party  opposed 
to  the  extension  of  slavery,  has  acted  with  a  reso 
lution  which  should  excite  our  sympathies.  Tlio 
future  of  the  United  States  was  at  stake  ;  it  knev 
it,  and  it  struggled  in  consequence.  Remembe;- 
the  efforts  essayed  four  years  ago  for  the  elec 
tion  of  Mr.  Fremont,  efforts  which  would  have, 
succeeded  perhaps,  if  Mr.  Fremont  had  not  been  ji 
Catholic.  Remember  those  three  months  of  ballot 
ing,  by  which  the  North  succeeded  in  carrying  the 
election  of  speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
Remember  the  conduct  of  the  North,  in.  the  sad 
affair  of  John  Brown,  its  refusal  to  approve  an  ille 
gal  act,  its  admiration  of  the  heroic  farmer  who 
died  after  having  witnessed  the  death  of  his  sons. 
On  seeing  the  public  mourning  of  the  Free  States, 
on  hearing  the  minute  gun  discharged  in  the  capi 
tal  of  the  State  of  New  York  on  the  day  of  execu 
tion,  one  might  have  foreseen  the  irresistible  im 
pulse  which  has  just  ended  in  the  triumph  of  Mr. 
Lincoln. 

The  indignation  against  slavery,  the  love  of 
country  and  of  its  compromised  honor,  the  just 
susceptibilities  of  the  North,  the  liberal  instincts  so 


WHAT   THE   ELECTION   OF   MK.  LINCOLN    SIGNIFIES.      43 

long  repressed,  the  desire  of  elevating  the  debased 
and  corrupt  institutions  of  the  land,  the  need  of 
escaping  insane  projects,  the  powerful  impulse  of 
the  Christian  faith,  all  these  sentiments  contributed, 
without  doubt,  to  swell  the  resistance  against  which 
the  supremacy  of  the  South  has  just  been  broken. 
This,  then,  is  a  legal  victory,  one  of  the  most  glorious 
spectacles  that  the  friends  of  liberty  can  contem 
plate  on  earth.  It  was  the  more  glorious,  the  more 
efforts  .and  sacrifices  it  demanded.  The  Lincoln 
party  had  opposed  to  it,  the  Puseyistic  and  finan 
cial  aristocracy  of  New  York ;  the  manoeuvres  of 
President  Buchanan  were  united  against  it  with 
those  of  the  Southern  States.  Many  of  the  North 
ern  journals  accused  it  of  treading  under  foot' the 
interests  of  the  seaports,  and  of  compromising  the 
sacred  cause  of  the  Union. 

To  succeed  in.  electing  Mr.  Lincoln,  we  must  not 
forget  that  it  was  necessary  to  put  the  question  of 
principle  above  the  questions  of  immediate  inter 
ests,  which  usually  make  themselves  heard  so  dis 
tinctly.  The  unity,  the  greatness  of  the  country, 
the  gigantic  future  towards  which  it  was  advan 
cing,  were  so  many  obstacles  arising  in  the  way. 
Then  came  the  reckoning  of  profits  and  losses,  the 
inevitable  crisis,  the  Southern  orders  already  with- 


4:4:     WHAT   THE   ELECTION    OF   MR.  LINCOLN    SIGNIFIES. 

drawn,  the  certain  loss  of  money  ;  it  seems  to  me 
that  men  who  have  braved  such  chances,  have 
nobly  accomplished  their  duty. 

America,  it  is  said,  is  the  country  of  the  dollar  ; 
the  Americans  think  only  of  making  money,  all 
other  considerations  are  subordinate  to  this.  If  t  le 
reproach  is  sometimes  w ell-founded,  we  must  admit, 
at  least,  that  it  is  not  always  so.  Those  who  wish 
to  persuade  us  that  the  Abolitionists  in  this  again 
have  simply  sought  their  own  interests,  by  seeking 
to  break  down  the  competition  of  servile  labor, 
forget  two  or  three  things  :  first,  that  the  slaves 
produce  tobacco  or  cotton,  while  the  North  pro 
duces  wheat,  so  that  there  is  not  a  race  in  the 
world  that  competes  less  with  it :  next,  that  the 
cotton  of  the  South  is  very  useful  to  the  North, 
useful  to  its  manufactures,  useful  to  its  trade,  botli 
transit  and  commission.  The  people  of  the  North 
are  not  reputed  to  lack  foresight ;  they  were  not 
ignorant  that  in  electing  Mr.  Lincoln,  they  had, 
for  the  time  at  least,  every  thing  to  lose  and  nothing 
to  gain  ;  they  were  not  ignorant  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
occasioned  the  immediate  threat  of  secession  ;  that 
the  threat  of  secession  was  a  commercial  crisis,  was 
the  political  weakening  of  the  country,  and  the  un 
settling  of  many  fortunes.  But  neither  were  they 


WHAT    THE    ELECTION    OF   MK.  LINCOLN    SIGNIFIES.     45 

ignorant  that  above  the  fleeting  interests  of  indi 
viduals  and  of  the  nation,  arose  those  permanent 
interests  which  must  rest  only  on  justice ;  they 
decided,  cost  what  it  might,  to  wrest  themselves 
from  the  detestable,  and  ere  long  fatal  allurements 
of  the  slavery  policy. 

Let  us  beware  how  we  calumniate,  without 
intending  it,  the  few  generous  impulses  which 
break  out  here  and  there  among  mankind.  I  know 
that  there  is  a  would-be  prudent  skepticism  which 
attacks  all  moral  greatness  that  it  may  depreciate 
it,  all  enthusiasm  that  it  may  translate  it  into 
calculation.  To  admire  nothing  is  most  deplorable, 
and,  I  hasten  to  add,  most  absurd.  Without  wan 
dering  from  the  subject  of  slavery,  I  can  cite  the 
great  Emancipation  Act,  wrested  from  Parliament 
by  Christian  public  opinion  in  England.  Have  not 
means  been  found  to  prove,  or  at  least  to  insinuate, 
that  this  act,  the  most  glorious  of  our  century,  was 
at  the  bottom  nothing  but  a  Machiavellian  combi 
nation  of  interests  ?  Doubtless,  those  who  have 
taken  the  trouble  to  look  over  the  debates  of  the 
times  know  what  we  are  to  think  of  this  fine  expla 
nation  ;  they  know  what  resistance  was  opposed  by 
interests  to  the  emancipation,  both  in  the  colonies 
and  in  the  heart  of  the  metropolis  ;  they  know  with 


46     WHAT   THE    ELECTION    OF    MK.  LINCOLN    SIGNIFIES. 

how  much  obstinacy  the  Tories,  representing  the 
traditions  of  English  politics,  combated  the  pro 
posed  plans  ;  they  know  in  what  terms  the  certain 
ruin  of  the  planters,  the  manufactures,  and  the  sea 
ports,  was  described;  they  know  by  how  ma  ly 
petitions  the  churches,  the  religious  societies,  the 

women,  and  even  the  children,  succeeded  in  wrest- 

• 

ing  from  Parliament  a  measure  refused  by  so  many 
statesmen.  But  the  mass  of  the  people  do  not  go 
back  to  the  beginning ;  they  take  for  granted  the 
summary  judgment  that  English  emancipation  was 
a  master-piece  of  perfidy. 

We  hear  very  nearly  the  same  thing  said  of  that 
glorious  movement  which  has  just  taken  place  in 
America.  We  would  gladly  detect  all  motives  in  it 
except  one  that  is  generous  and  Christian.  As  if  a 
vulgar  calculation  of  interest  wTould  not  have  dic 
tated  a  contrary  course!  And  it  is  precisely  this 
that  makes  the  greatness  of  the  resolution  adopted 
by  the  North.  It  knew  all  the  consequences  ;  they 
had  been  announced  by  the  South,  recapitulated 
by  prudent  men,  stated  in  detail  by  the  newspapers 
of  great  commercial  cities ;  it  chose  to  be  just. 
Despite  the  inevitable  mingling  of  base  and  self 
ish  impulses,  which  always  become  complicated 
in  such  manifestations,  the  ruling  motive  in  this 


WHAT   THE    ELECTION    OF   MU.  LINCOLN    SIGNIFIES.     47 

was  a  protest  of  conscience,  and  of  the  spirit  of 
liberty. 

The"  accounts  that  have  come  to  us  from  Amer 
ica  demonstrate  the  lofty  character  of  the  joy  which 
was  manifested  after  the  election.  Men  shook  hands 
with  each  other  in  the  streets ;  they  congratulated 
each  other  on  having  at  last  escaped  from  the  yoke 
of  an  ignoble  policy ;  they  felt  as  though  relieved 
from  a  weight ;  they  breathed  more  freely  ;  the  true, 
the  noble  destinies  of  the  United  States  reappeared 
on  the  horizon,  they  saluted  a  future  that  should  be 
better  than  the  present,  a  future  worthy  of  their 
sires,  those  early  pilgrims  who,  carrying  nothing 
with  them  but  their  Bibles,  had  laid  the  foundation 
of  a  free  country  with  poor  but  valiant  hands. 

I  should  like  to  quote  here  the  sermon  in  which 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Beecher  poured  out  his  Christian  joy 
at  that  time.  lie  spoke  of  the  strength  of  the  weak ; 
he  showed  that  principles,  however  despised  they 
may  be,  end  by  revenging  themselves  on  interests  ; 
he  recalled  the  fact  that  the  Gospel  is  a  power  in 
America.  To  rise  up,  to  attack  its  enemy  manfully, 
to  arraign  the  causes  of  the  national  decline,  to  ap 
proach  boldly  the  solution  of  the  most  formidable 
problem  which  could  be  propounded  here  on  earth, 
such  is  not  the  act  of  a  nation  of  calculators.  Some- 


48     WHAT   THE   ELECTION    OF   Mli.  LINCOLN    SIGNIFIES. 

thing  else  is  implied  in  it  than  tactics,  son  e- 
tliing  else  than  combinations  of  votes  or  sectioi.al 
rivalries.  To  vote  as  they  did,  they  had  to  over 
come  almost  as  many  obstacles  in  the  North  as 
in  the  South  ;  for,  in  consequence  of  the  vote, 
the  North  had  to  suffer  like  the  South,  and  they, 
knew  it. 

If  you  wish  to  be  just  to  the  United  States, 
compare  them  with  other  countries  in  which  slavery 
exists.  In  the  United  States  there  is  a  struggle  ;  the 
question  is  a  living  one ;  men  do  not  turn  aside  from 
it  with  lax  indifference.  I  love  the  noise  of  free  na 
tions  ;  I  find  in  the  very  violence  of  their  debate*  a 
proof  of  the  earnestness  of  convictions.  Men  must 
become  excited  about  great  social  problems ;  if 
abuses  exist,  they  must,  at  least,  be  pointed  out,  at 
tacked,  and  stigmatized;  the  prescription  of  silence 
must  never  be  accorded  them  ;  devoted  voices  must 
exclaim  against  them,  unceasingly,  in  the  name  of 
justice  and  of  humanity.  Such  a  spectacle  does 
good  to  the  soul ;  it  solaces  the  sorrows  of  the  pres 
ent,  it  carries  within  itself  guarantees  for  the  future. 

The  sad,  profoundly  sad,  spectacle,  is  that  of  na 
tions  where  crimes  make  no  noise.  Look  at  Brazil. 
Like  the  United  States,  it  has  slavery,  but  it  is  an 
honorable,  discreet  slavery,  of  which  nothing  is  said. 


WHAT   THE   ELECTION    OF   MJJ.  LINCOLN    SIGNIFIES.     49 

Whatever  may  happen  there,  no  one  inquires  about 
it ;  there  are  no  discussions,  either  through  the  press 
or  in  the  courts.  No  party  would  dare  insert  such  a 
question  into  its  platform.  One  thing,  very  prop 
erly,  has  been  found  to  disturb  it,  and  the  public 
sale  of  slaves  has  just  been  forbidden. 

Look,  above  all,  at  Spain  and  its  island  of  Cuba. 
There,  too,  is  perfect  silence.  Nothing,  in  truth, 
opposes  the  belief  ihat  Cuba  is  the  abode  of  felicity, 
and  that  the  atrocities  of  slavery  are  the  monopoly 
of  the  United  States.  But  inquisitive  people,  who 
like  to  search  to  the  bottom  of  things,  discover  that  if 
the  masters  are  very  gentle  at  Havana,  the  overseers 
are  scarcely  so  on  their  account  on  the  plantations ; 
I  have  already  given  the  proof  of  it.  Out  of  ten 
slavers  that  are  seized  on  the  high  seas,  nine  are 
always  destined  to  Cuba.  Spain  has  forbidden  the 
slave  trade  ;  she  has  even  been  compensated  for  it 
by  the  English  ;  but  this  does  not  prevent  her  from 
suffering  it  to  be  carried  on  before  her  eyes  with 
almost  absolute  impunity.  Her  high-sounding 
phrases  change  nothing ;  the  smallest  fact  is  of  more 
value.  At  Cuba,  the  landing  of  slaves  is  continual, 
and  the  places  of  disembarkation  are  known.  Now, 
the  American  flag  protects  no  one  at  the  time  of 
disembarking.  Why  is  no  opposition  made  to  this  ? 
8 


50     WHAT    THE    ELECTION    OF    Mlt.  LINCOLN    SIGNIFIES. 

Why  has  the  importation  of  negroes  tripled  in  Cu 
ba?  Why  does  no  slaver,  American  or  any  other, 
steer  towards  Brazil,  since  Brazil  has  desired  to  put 
an  end  to  the  slave  trade  ?  The  answer  to  these 
questions  will  be  given  us  on  the  day  when  Spain 
shall  desire,  in  turn,  to  suppress  it.  In  the  meati 
time  she  prefers  to  keep  silence,  unless  when  a  word 
from  London  strikes  out  a  concert  of  protestations 
more  patriotic  than  convincing ;  save  in  this  cast1, 
the  government  is  silent,  public  opinion  is  silent,  no 
colonial  sheet  is  found  ready  to  hazard  an  objection, 
nor  even  a  metropolitan  journal  that  is  willing  to 
disturb  so  touching  an  equanimity.  The  court  of 
Madrid,  in  which  many  questions  are  agitated,  pru 
dently  stands  aloof  in  the  matter  of  slavery  and  the 
slave  trade  ;  among  the  numerous  parties  disputing 
for  power,  not  one  dares  venture  on  a  ground  where 
it  would  meet  nothing  but  unpopularity.  All !  a  f- 
ter  this  death-like  silence,  how  the  soul  is  refreshed 
by  the  fiery  contests  of  the  United  States,  the  great 
word-combats  carried  on  in  every  village  of  the 
Union,  the  appeals  addressed  to  the  conscience,  the 
battle  in  broad  daylight !  How  refreshing  to  soe 
by  the  side  of  these  nations,  who  sleep  so  tranquilly, 
while  regarding  the  inroads  of  slavery,  a  people 


WHAT   THE   ELECTION    OF    MR.  LINCOLN    SIGNIFIES.     51 

whom  it  disquiets,  whom  it  irritates,  who  refuse  to 
take  part  in  it,  and  who,  rather  than  conform  to  the 
evil,  agitate,  become  divided,  and  rend  themselves 
perchance  with  their  own  hands  ! 


52  WHAT    WE    AKE   TO   THINK. 


CHAPTER    IY. 

WHAT   WE   ARE   TO   THINK   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

WE  are  not  just  towards  the  United  States.  Their 
civilization,  so  different  from  ours,  wounds  us  in 
various  ways,  and  we  turn  from  them  in  the  ill-hu 
mor  excited  by  their  real  defects,  without  taking 
note  enough  of  their  eminent  qualities.  This  coun 
try,  which  possesses  neither  church,  nor  State,  nor 
army,  nor  governmental  protection ;  this  country, 
born  yesterday,  and  born  under  a  Puritanic  influ 
ence  ;  this  country,  without  past  history,  without 
monuments,  separated  from  the  Middle  Ages  by  the 
double  interval  of  centuries  and  beliefs ;  this  rude 
country  of  farmers  and  pioneers,  has  nothing  fitted 
to  please  us.  It  has  the  exuberant  life  and  the  ec 
centricities  of  youth  ;  that  is,  it  affords  to  our  ma 
ture  experience  inexhaustible  subjects  of  blame  and 
raillery. 

We  are  are  so  little  inclined  to  admire  it,  that 


OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  53 

we  seek  in  its  territorial  configuration  for  the  es 
sential  explanation  of  its  success.  Is  it  so  difficult  to 
maintain  good  order  and  liberty  at  home  when  one 
has  immense  deserts  to  people,  when  land  offers  it 
self  without  stint  to  the  labor  of  man  ? — I  do  not 
see,  for  my  part,  that  land  is  lacking  at  Buenos 
Ayres,  at  Montevideo,  in  Mexico,  or  in  any  of  the 
pronunciamento  republics  that  cover  South  America. 
It  seems  to  me  that  the  Turks  have  room  before 
them,  and  that  the  Middle  Ages  were  not  suffering 
precisely  from  an  excess  of  population  when  they 
presented  everywhere  the  spectacle  of  anarchy  and 
oppression. 

Be  sure  that  the  United  States,  which  have 
something  to  learn  of  us,  have  also  something  to 
teach  us.  Theirs  is  a  great  community,  which  it 
does  not  become  us  to  pass  by  in  disdain.  The 
more  it  differs  from  our  own  Europe,  the  more  ne 
cessary  is  impartial  attention  to  comprehend  and  ap 
preciate  it.  Especially  is  it  impossible  for  us  to 
form  an  enlightened  opinion  of  the  present  crisis, 
unless  we  begin  by  taking  into  consideration  the 
surroundings  in  which  it  has  broken  out.  The  na 
ture  of  the  struggle  and  its  probable  issue,  the  diffi 
culties  of  the  present,  and  the  chances  of  the  future, 
will  be  clear  to  us  only  on  condition  of  our  making 


54  WHAT   WE    ARE   TO    THINK 

a  study  of  the  United  States.     A  few  details  will, 
therefore,  be  permitted  me. 

Among  the  Yankees,  the  faults  are  on  the  sur 
face.  I  am  not  one  to  justify  Lynch  law,  whatever 
may  be  the  necessities  which  exist  in  the  Far  West 
Riots  in  the  United  States  are  cited  which  have 
performed  their  work  of  fire  and  devastation,  anc 
which  no  one  has  dared  treat  rigorously  afterwards, 
for  fear  of  incurring  disgrace  from  the  sovereign 
people  ;  but  I  remember,  I  fancy,  that  similar  things 
have  been  seen  in  Paris  itself.  "We  will  not,  there 
fore,  lay  too  great  stress  on  them. 

One  thing  that  is  not  seen  in  Paris,  is,  unhap 
pily,  remarked  in  America  :  the  general  tendency 
among  women  to  substitute  masculine  qualities 
which  scarcely  befit  them,  for  the  feminine  qualities 
which  constitute  their  grace,  their  strength,  and 
their  dignity  ;  thence  results  a  certain  something  un 
pleasant  and  rude  which  does  no  credit  to  the  ]^ew 
World.  I  by  no  means  admire  coarseness,  and  I 
do  not  admit  that  it  is  the  necessary  companion  of 
energy  ;  the  tone  of  the  journals  and  of  the  debates 
in  Congress  is  often  calculated  to  excite  a  just  re 
probation.  There  is  in  the  United  States  a  level 
ling  spirit,  a  jealousy  of  acquired  superiority,  arid, 
above  all,  of  inherited  distinctions,  which  pro- 


OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  55 

ceeds  from  the  worst  sentiments  of  the  heart.  What 
is  graver  still,  the  tender  and  gentle  side  of  the  hu 
man  soul,  such  as  shines  forth  in  the  Gospel,  ap 
pears  too  rarely  among  this  people,  where  the  Gos 
pel,  notwithstanding,  is  in  honor,  but  where  the 
labor  of  a  gigantic  growth  has  developed  the  active 
instead  of  the  loving  virtues ;  the  Americans  are 
cold  even  when  good,  charitable  and  devout. 

They  may  love  money,  and  often  concentrate 
their  thoughts  on  the  means  of  making  it ;  I  will 
not  contest  this,  although  I  doubt,  on  seeing  what 
passes  among  ourselves,  whether  we  have  the  right 
to  cast  the  stone  at  them  ;  especially  as  American 
liberality,  as  I  shall  presently  show,  is  of  a  nature 
to  put  our  parsimony  to  shame.  As  to  the 
bankrupt  acts,  of  which  American  creditors  have 
many  times  complained,  nothing  can  justify  them ; 
yet  here  again  the  role  of  pedagogue  scarcely 
becomes  us.  If  more  than  one  American  railroad 
company  have  taken  advantage  of  a  crisis  to  declare 
without  much  dishonor,  a  suspension  of  payment, 
it  is  not  proved  that  these  suspensions  of  payment 
must  be  converted  into  bankruptcy.  If  more  than 
one  town  or  more  than  one  county  make  the  half 
yearly  payments  of  their  debts  with  reluctance,  the 
courts  always  do  fair  justice  on  this  ill  will ;  there 


56  WHAT    WE    AKE    TO    THINK 

are  some  countries,  Russia,  for  instance,  where  tho 
courts  do  not  do  as  much.  If,  in  fine,  at  one  time, 
a  number  of  States  failed  to  keep  their  engagements, 
and  a  single  one  dared  proclaim  the  infamous  doc 
trine  of  repudiation,  all  have  since  paid,  the  last- 
named  included.  Once  more,  are  we  sure  of  being 
in  a  position  to  reprove  such  misdeeds  ;  we,  whose 
governments,  anterior  to  '89,  made  use,  withour, 
much  scruple,  of  the  fall  of  stocks  and  bankruptcies  ; 
we,  whose  debt,  on  emerging  from  the  Revolution. 
took  the  significant  name  of  tiers  consolidef 

Let  us  not  forget  that  the  population  of  the 
United  States  has  increased  tenfold  since  the  close 
of  the  last  century  ;  they  have  received  immigrants 
annually,  by  hundreds  of  thousands,  who  have  not 
always  been  the  elite  of  the  Old  World.  Must  not 
this  perpetual  invasion  of  strangers  promptly  trans 
formed  into  citizens,  have  necessarily  introduced 
into  the  decision  of  public  affairs  some  elements  of 
immorality  ?  I  admire  the  honorable  and  religious 
spirit  of  the  Americans  which  has  been  able  to  as 
similate  and  rule  to  such  a  degree  these  great  masses 
of  Irish  and  Germans.  Few  countries  would  have- 
endured  a  like  ordeal  as  well. 

Remark  that,  in  spite  of  all,  public  order  is 
maintained  without  paid  troops,  (Continental  Eu- 


OF   THE   UNITED    STATES.  57 

rope  will  find  it  hard  to  credit  this.)  Tranquillity 
reigns  in  the  largest  cities  of  the  United  States ; 
respect  for  the  law  is  in  every  heart ;  great  ballot- 
ings  take  place,  millions  of  excited  men  await  the 
result  with  trembling ;  yet,  notwithstanding,  not 
an  act  of  violence  is  committed.  American  riots 
—for  some  there  are — are  certainly  less  numerous 
than  ours ;  and  they  have  the  merit  of  not  being 
transformed  into  revolutions. 

The  greater*  part  of  the  emigrants  remain,  of 
course,  in  the  large  cities  ;  here  they  come  almost 
to  make  the  laws,  and  here,  too,  noble  causes  en 
counter  the  most  opponents.  Mr.  Lincoln,  to  cite 
an  example,  received  only  a  minority  of  suffrages 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  whilst  the  unanimity  of 
the  country  suffrages  secured  him  the  vote  of  the 
State.  Contempt  of  the  colored  class,  that  crime 
of  the  North,  breaks  out  most  of  all  in  the  large 
cities,  and  particularly  among  agglomerations  of 
emigrants  ;  none  are  harsher  to  free  negroes,  it 
must  be  admitted,  than  newly-landed  Europeans 
who  have  come  to  seek  a  fortune  in  America. 

As  to  crimes,  they  are  numerous  only  in  cities  ; 
still  the  criminal  records  of  the  United  States  ap 
pear  somewhat  full  when  compared  with  ours.  I 

"know  how  great  a  part  of  this  must  be  assigned  to 
3* 


58  WHAT    WE    ARE    TO    THINK 

the  insufficiency  of  repression ;  in  America,  crimi 
nals  doubtless  escape  punishment  much  oftener 
than  among  us.  Notwithstanding,  there  is  real  se 
curity  ;  and  a  child  might  travel  over  the  entire 
West  without  being  exposed  to  the  slightest  danger. 

M.  de  Tocqueville  has  said  that  morals  are  infi 
nitely  more  rigid  in  North  America  than  elsewhere. 
This  is  not,  it  seems  to  me,  a  trifling  advantage. 
Whatever  may  be  the  depravity  of  the  seaports, 
where  the  whole  world  holds  rendezvous,  it  remains 
certain  that  it  does  not  penetrate  into  the  interior 
of  the  country.  Open  the  journals  and  novels 
of  the  United  States  ;  you  will  not  find  a  cor 
rupt  page  in  them.  You  might  leave  them  all  on 
the  drawing-room  table,  without  fearing  to  call  a 
blush  to  the  brow  of  a  woman,  or  to  sully  the  im 
agination  of  a  child. 

In  the  heart  of  the  manufacturing  States,  model 
villages  are  found,  in  which  every  thing  is  com 
bined  to  protect  the  artisans  of  both  sexes  from  the 
perils  that  await  them  in  other  countries.  Who 
has  not  heard  of  the  town  of  Lowell,  where  farm 
ers'  daughters  go  to  earn  their  dowry,  where  the 
labor  of  the  factories  brings  no  dissipation  in  its 
train,  where  the  workwomen  read,  write,  teach 
Sunday-schools,  where  their  morality  detracts  noth- 


OF   THE    UNITED   STATES.  59 

ing  from  their  liberty  and  progress  ?  "When  I  have 
added  that  the  United  States  have  not  a  single 
foundling  asylum,  it  seems  to  me  that  I  have  indi 
cated  what  we  are  to  think  at  once  of  their  good 
morals  and  good  sense. 

And  let  not  the  Americans  be  represented  as  a 
people  at  once  honest  and  narrow-minded.  If  they 
are  still  far  from  our  level — and  this  must  neces 
sarily  be  true,  in  an  artistic  and  literary  point  of 
view — we  are  not,  however,  at  liberty  to  despise  a 
country  which  counts  such  names  as  Hawthorne, 
Longfellow,  Emerson,  Cooper,  Marryatt,  Poe,Wash- 
ington  Irving,  Channing,  Prescott,  Motley,  and 
Bancroft.  Note  that  among  these  names,  men  of 
imagination  hold  a  prominent  place,  which  proves, 
we  may  say  in  passing,  that  the  country  where  we 
oftenest  hear  the  exclamation,  "  Of  what  use  is  it  ?  " 
agrees  in  finding  poetry  of  some  use.  And  I  speak 
here  neither  of  orators,  like  Mr.  Seward  or  Mr. 
Douglas,  nor  of  scholars,  like  Lieutenant  Maury, 
nor  of  those  who,  like  Fulton  or  Morse,  have  ap 
plied  science  to  art :  judgment  has  been  passed  on 
all  these  points. 

But  the  true  superiority  of  Americans  is  in  the 
universality  of  common  instruction.  The  Puritans, 
who  came  hither  with  their  Bibles,  were  of  neces- 


60  WHAT    WE    ABE    TO    THINK 

sity  zealous  founders  of  schools  ;  the  Bible  and  the 
school  go  together.  See,  therefore,  what  the  schools 
are  in  the  United  States  !  The  State  of  Massachu 
setts  alone,  which  does  not  number  a  million  of 
souls,  devotes  five  millions  yearly  to  its  public  in 
struction.  If  other  States  are  far  from  equalling 
it  in  academies  and  higher  institutions,  all  are  on 
a  level  with  it  as  regards  primary  schools  ;  a  man 
or  woman,  therefore,  is  rarely  found  outside  the 
class  of  immigrants,  who  does  not  possess  a  solid 
knowledge  of  the  elementary  sciences,  the  extent 
of  which  would  excite  our  surprise.  By  the  side 
of  the  primary  school,  and  to  complete  its  instruc 
tion  in  the  religious  point  of  view,  the  Americans 
have  everywhere  opened  Sunday-schools,  kept  gra 
tuitously  by  volunteer  teachers,  among  whom  have 
figured  many  men  of  the  highest  standing,  several 
of  whom  have  been  Presidents  of  the  Confedera 
tion.  These  Sunday-schools,  not  less  than  twenty 
thousand  in  number,  and  superintended  by  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  teachers,  count  more 
than  a  million  of  pupils,  of  which  ten  thousand  at 
least  are  adults.  Calculate  the  power  of  such  an 
instrument ! 

People  read  enormously  in  America.     There  is 
a  library  in  the  meanest  cabin   of  roughly-hewn 


OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  61 

logs,  constructed  by  the  pioneers  of  the  "West. 
These  poor  log-houses  almost  always  contain  a 
Bible,  often  journals,  instructive  books,  sometimes 
even  poetry.  We  in  Europe,  who  fancy  ourselves 
fine  amateurs  of  good  verses,  would  scarcely  imag 
ine  that  copies  of  Longfellow  are  scattered  among 
American  husbandmen.  The  political  journals  have 
many  subscribers  ;  those  of  the  religious  papers  are 
no  less  numerous.  I  know  of  a  monthly  journal 
designed  for  children,  (the  Child's  Paper,)  of  which 
three  hundred  thousand  copies  are  printed.  This 
is  the  intellectual  aliment  of  the  country.  In  the 
towns,  lectures  are  added  to  books,  journals,  and 
reviews :  in  all  imaginable  subjects,  this  commu 
nity,  which  the  Government  does  not  charge  itself 
with  instructing,  (at  least,  beyond  the  primary  edu 
cation,)  educates  and  develops  itself  with  indefat 
igable  ardor.  Ideas  are  agitated  in  the  smallest 
market-town  ;  life  is  everywhere. 

Accustomed  to  act  for  themselves,  knowing  that 
they  cannot  count  on  the  administrative  patronage 
of  the  State,  the  Americans  excel  in  bringing  indi 
vidual  energies  into  action.  There  are  few  func 
tionaries,  few  soldiers,  and  few  taxes  among  them. 
They  know  nothing,  like  us,  of  that  malady  of 
public  functions,  the  violence  of  which  increases  in 


62  WHAT    WE    ABE   TO    THINK 

proportion  as  we  advance.  They  know  nothing  of 
those  enormous  imposts  under  which  Europe  is 
bending  by  degrees — those  taxes  which,  almost  sup 
press  property  by  overburdening  its  transmission  ; 
they  have  not  come  to  the  point  of  finding  it  very 
natural  to  devote  one  or  two  millions  every  year  to 
the  expenses  of  the  State,  and  no  theory  has  been 
formed  to  prove  to  them  that  of  all  the  expenses  of 
the  citizens,  this  is  applied  to  the  best  purpose. 
They  have  not  entered  with  the  Old  World  into  that 
rivalry  of  armaments  in  which  each  nation,  though 
it  become  exhausted  in  the  effort,  is  bound  to  keep 
on  a  level  with  its  neighbors,  and  in  which  no  one 
will  be  stronger  in  the  end  when  the  whole  world 
shall  be  subjugated.  Their  ten  thousand  regulars 
suffice,  and  they  have  their  militia  for  extraordinary 
occasions.  Lastly,  their  Federal  debt  is  insignifi 
cant  ;  and,  if  the  private  debts  of  a  few  States 
reach  a  high  figure,  they  are  nowhere  of  a  nature 
to  impose  on  the  tax-payers  a  large  surplus  of 
charges. 

All  of  the  great  liberties  exist  in  the  United 
States  :  liberty  of  the  press,  liberty  of  speech,  right 
of  assemblage,  right  of  association.  Except  in  the 
slave  States,  where  the  national  institutions  have 
been  subjected  to  deplorable  mutilations  in  fact. 


OF   THE   UNITED   STATES.  63 

every  citizen  can  express  his  opinion  and  maintain 
it  openly,  without  meeting  any  other  obstacle  than 
the  contrary  opinion,  which  is  expressed  with  equal 
freedom. 

But  there  is  one  ground  above  all  where  we 
should  acknowledge  the  superiority  of  America  :  I 
mean,  religious  liberty.  We  are  still  in  the  beginning 
of  doubts  upon  the  point  as  to  where  the  interfer 
ence  of  the  State  should  cease ;  in  what  measure 
it  should  govern  the  belief  of  the  citizens,  and  its 
manifestation.  These  questions,  alas,  are  still  pro 
pounded  among  us.  And  there  are  countries  at 
our  doors,  where  men  shudder  at  the  mere  idea 
that  the  law  may  some  day  cease  to  decide  for  each 
in  what  manner  he  is  bound  to  worship  God,  that 
the  courts  may  cease  to  punish  those  whose  con 
science  turns  aside  from  the  path  of  the  nation. 
Protestant  Sweden  but  lately  condemned  dissenters 
to  fine  and  imprisonment ;  Catholic  Spain  daily 
inflicts  the  severest  penalties  on  those  who  suffer 
themselves  to  profess  or  to  propagate  beliefs  which 
are  not  those  of  the  country — those  who  sell  the 
Scriptures,  and  those  who  read  them. 

The  United  States  have  not  only  proclaimed 
and  loyally  carried  out  the  glorious  principle  of 
religious  liberty,  but  have  adopted  as  a  corollary 


64  WHAT    WE    AKE    TO    THINK 

another  principle,  much  more  contested  among  uf , 
but  which  I  believe  destined  also  to  make  the  tour 
of  the  world:  the  principle  of  separation  of  Church 
and  State.  That  believers  should  support  their 
own  worship,  that  religious  and  political  questions 
should  never  be  blended,  that  the  two  provinces 
should  remain  distinct,  is  a  simple  idea  which  seems 
most  strange  to  us  to-day.  It  will  make  its  way 
like  all  other  true  ideas,  which  begin  as  paradoxes 
and  end  by  becoming  axioms.  Meanwhile,  the 
American  Confederation  enjoys  an  advantage  which 
more  than  one  European  government,  I  suspect, 
would  at  some  moments  purchase  at  a  high  price  : 
it  has  not  to  trouble  itself  about  religious  interests, 
either  in  its  action  without  or  its  administration 
within.  If  there  are  conflicts  everywhere  in  the 
spiritual  order,  it  leaves  them  to  struggle  and  be 
come  resolved  in  the  spiritual  order,  without  need 
ing  to  trouble  itself  in  the  matter.  Hence  arises 
for  the  State  a  freedom  of  bearing,  a  simplicity  of 
conduct,  which  we,  who  have  to  steer  adroitly 
through  so  many  dangers,  can  hardly  comprehend. 
The  American  government  is  sure  of  never  offend 
ing  any  church — it  knows  none  ;  it  docs  not  inter 
fere  either  to  combat  or  to  aid  them  ;  it  has  re- 


OF   THE   UNITED    STATES.  65 

nounced,  once  for  all,  intervention  in  the  domain 
of  conscience. 

The  result,  doubtless,  is,  that  this  domain  is  not 
so  well  ordered  as  in  Europe ;  the  administrative 
ecclesiastical  state  has  by  no  means  submitted  to 
such  regulation.  Is  that  to  say  that  this  inconve 
nience  (if  it  be  one)  is  not  largely  compensated  for 
by  its  advantages  ?  Is  it  nothing  to  suppress  inherit 
ance  in  religious  matters,  and  to  force  each  soul  to 
question  itself  as  to  what  it  believes  ?  In  the  United 
States,  adhesion  to  a  church  is  an  individual,  sponta 
neous  act,  resulting  from  a  voluntary  determination. 
This  is  so  true  that  four-fifths  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  country  do  not  bear  the  title  of  church  members. 
Although  attending  worship,  although  manifesting 
an  interest  and  zeal  in  the  subject  to  which  we  are 
little  accustomed,  although  assiduous  church-goers, 
and  liberal  givers,  they  have  not  yet  felt  within 
themselves  a  conviction  strong  and  clear  enough  to 
make  a  public  profession  of  faith.  Think  what  we 
may  of  such  a  system,  we  must  avow,  at  least,  that 
it  implies  a  profound  respect  for  sacred  things ; 
nothing  can  less  resemble  that  indolent  and  formal 
assent  which  we  give,  in  conformity  with  custom, 
and  without  binding  ourselves,  in  earnest,  to  the  re 
ligion  that  prevails  among  us. 


66  WHAT    AYE    AKE    TO    THIKK 

Hence  arises  something  valiant  in  American  con 
victions.  Hence  arises  also,  it  may  be  said,  thai, 
dispersion  of  sects,  the  picture  of  which  is  so  oftei 
drawn  for  us.  I  am  far  from  loving  the  spirit  ol 
sectarianism,  and  I  am  careful  not  to  present  the 
American  churches  as  the  beau  ideal  in  religion*. 
matters.  The  sectarian  spirit,  the  fundamental  trail - 
of  which  is  to  confound  unity  with  uniformity,  tc 
transform  divergencies  into  separations,  to  refuse  t( 
admit  into  the  bosom  of  the  church  the  element  of 
diversity  and  of  liberty  ;  to  exact  the  signing  of  a 
theological  formula,  and  the  formal  adhesion  as  a 
whole  to  a  collection  of  dogmas  and  practices,  with 
out  tolerating  the  slightest  shade  of  difference — the1, 
sectarian  spirit,  with  its  narrowness,  with  its  tradi 
tions  of  men,  with  its  exaggeration  of  little  things, 
with  its  separate  denominations,  is  certainly  not 
worthy  of  admiration.  I  reject  it  in  America  as 
elsewhere,  but  I  think  it  wTell  to  state  that  the  re 
ligious  disruption  produced  by  it  has  been  much 
exaggerated.  We  must  greatly  abbreviate  the  for 
midable  list  of  churches  furnished  us  by  travel 
lers.  Putting  aside  those  which  have  no  value, 
either  as  to  influence  or  numbers,  we  reduce  the 
numbers  of  denominations  existing  in  the  United 
States,  outside  the  Roman  Catholic  church,  to  five. 


OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  67 

(and  these  are  too  many ;)  namely :  Methodist, 
Baptist,  Congregational,  Episcopal,  and  Presbyte 
rian.  The  remainder  is  composed  of  small  eccentric 
congregations  which  spring  up  and  die,  and  of 
which  no  one  takes  heed,  except  a  few  tourists,  who 
are  always  willing  to  note  down  extraordinary  facts. 
We  will  add  that  the  sectarian  spirit  is  now 
attacked  in  America,  and  that  the  essential  unity 
which  binds  the  members  of  the  five  denominations 
together,  in  spite  of  some  external  differences,  is 
manifesting  itself  forcibly.  Xot  only  does  the  evan 
gelical  alliance  prove  to  the  most  sceptical  that  this 
unity  is  real,  but  a  fact  peculiar  to  the  United 
States,  the  great  awakening  produced  by  the  crisis 
of  1857,  has  given  evidence  of  the  perfect  harmony 
of  convictions.  In  the  innumerable  meetings 
caused  to  spring  up  by  this  awakening  from  one 
end  of  the  country  to  the  other,  it  has  been  impos 
sible  to  distinguish  Baptists,  Presbyterians,  or  Con- 
gregationalists  from  each  other.  All  have  been 
there,  and  no  one  has  betrayed  by  the  least  shade 
of  dogmatism  those  self-styled  profound  divisions 
about  which  so  much  noise  is  made.  I  invite  those 
still  in  doubt  to  look  at  the  manner  in  which  public 
worship  is  established  in  the  "West :  as  soon  as  a  few 
men  have  formed  a  settlement,  a  missionary  comes 


68  WHAT    WE   AKE   TO    THINK 

to  visit  them  ;  no  one  inquires  about  his  denon 
ination,  for  the  Bible  that  he  brings  is  the  Bib! 
of  all,  and  the  salvation,  through  Christ,  which  h 
proclaims,  is  the  faith  of  all.  It  suffices,  besides,  t 
see  this  entire  people,  so  restless,  so  laborious,  lea^s 
ing  its  business  on  Sunday  to  occupy  itself  with  tli 
thoughts  of  another  life  ;  it  suffices  to  observe  th 
unanimous  uprising  of  the  public  conscience  at  th 
rumor  of  an  attack  directed  against  the  Gospel,  t 
perceive  that  unity  subsists  beneath  lamentable  di 
visions,  and  that  individual  conviction  creates  th 
most  active  of  all  cohesive  powers  in  the  heart  o: 
human  communities  ;  I  know  of  no  cement  tlia 
equals  it. 

If  individual  convictions  arc  a  strong  bond,  the; 
arc  also  an  inexhaustible  source  of  life.  It  is  eas; 
to  assure  ourselves  of  this  by  a  brief  survey  of  th 
proofs  of  Christian  liberality  which  are  displayed  ii 
the  United  States.  Here,  there  is  no  legal  charity 
no  aid  to  be  expected  from  the  government,  eithe 
for  the  support  of  churches,  or  for  that  of  the  sic! 
and  poor  ;  the  voluntary  system  must  suffice  for  all 
And,  in  fact,  it  does  suffice  for  all. 

What  is  the  first  thing  in  question  ?  To  collec 
thirty  millions  annually  for  the  payment  of  th 
clergy.  The  thirty  millions  are  furnished  :  poo 


OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  (59 

and  rich,  all  give  eagerly,  and  without  compulsion. 
The  next  thing  in  question  is  to  provide  for  the  con 
struction  of  new  churches  ;  now,  it  is  necessary  to 
finish  not  less  than  three  of  these  daily,  for  the 
clearing  of  the  forests  advances  with  rapid  strides, 
and  a  thousand  churches,  at  least,  are  built  every 
year.  The  majority  of  these  churches  are  doubtless 
composed  of  beams  laid  one  upon  another,  then 
painted  white,  or  left  of  the  natural  color,  and  sur 
mounted  by  a  bell ;  they  are  simple  and  inexpen 
sive,  and,  in  the  infant  villages,  the  streets  of  which 
are  still  blocked  up  by  trees  left  standing,  the  place, 
serving  at  once  for  a  church  and  a  school,  where  the 
people  gather  round  an  itinerant  preacher,  is  not 
decorated  with  much  sumptuousness  ;  yet  these  new 
edifices  demand  annually  from  twelve  to  fifteen 
millions. 

Next  come  the  religious  societies.  In  the  "West, 
preachers  are  needed,  hardy  laborers,  who  live  in 
privations,  traversing  vast  solitudes  on  horseback, 
and  journeying  continually,  without  repose,  until 
their  strength  is  exhausted.  Eight  hundred  mission 
aries  or  agents  are  required  for  the  American  Board 
of  Missions,  for  the  Presbyterians,  the  Baptists,  and 
all  the  other  churches.  !N"ow,  they  cannot  send 
them  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe  without  pro- 


70  WHAT    WE    ABE    TO    THINK 

viding  for  their  wants.  The  Bible  Society,  whicl 
prints  three  hundred  thousand  Bibles  annually,  th 
Keligious  Tract  Society,  which  publishes  every  yea 
five  millions  of  tracts,  and  which,  in  New  Tori 
alone,  employs  a  thousand  visitors  or  distributors 
the  various  works,  in  a  word,  expend  from  nine  t< 
ten  millions. 

Such,  then,  is  the  budget  of  voluntary  charit; 
in  the  United  States.  It  amounts  to  fifty  or  sixt 
millions,  without  counting  the  very  considerabl 
donations  destined  to  public  instruction ;  withou 
counting  (and  this  is  immense)  the  relief  of  the  sic 
and  the  poor.  You  will  scarcely  find  a  Tillage  i: 
the  whole  United  States  that  has  not  its  benevoleii 
society,  and  private  benevolence,  which  is  the  besi 
also  carries  on  its  work,  independently  of  societies. 
know  of  no  country  where  acts  of  profuse  liberalit 
are  more  frequent ;  one  man  founds  a  hospital,  ar 
other  an  observatory.  Asylums  are  opened  for  a! 
human  unfortunates,  for  lunatics,  the  blind,  the  dea: 
orphans,  abandoned  children. 

Was  I  not  right  in  saying  that  this  is  a  grea 
people  ?  Whatever  may  be  its  vices,  we  are  not  a 
liberty  to  speak  of  it  with  disdain.  If  the  Ameri 
cans  know  how  to  make  a  fortune,  they  know,  alsc 
how  to  make  a  noble  use  of  their  fortune  ;  accuse* 


OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  71 

with  reason,  as  they  are,  of  being  too  often  preoc 
cupied  with  questions  of  profit,  we  have  seen  them 
retrenching  much  of  their  luxury  since  the  commer 
cial  crisis,  yet  economizing  very  little  in  their  char 
ities.  The  budget  of  the  churches  and  religious  so 
cieties  remained  intact  at  the  very  time  that  embar 
rassment  was  everywhere  prevailing.  I  cannot  help 
believing  that  there  are  peculiar  blessings  attached 
to  so  many  voluntary  sacrifices  which  carry  back 
the  mind  to  the  early  ages  of  Christianity.  "We 
may  be  sure  that  the  religion  that  costs  something, 
brings  something  also  in  return. 


72  THE    CHUKCHES   AND    SLAVERY. 


CHAPTEK    Y. 

THE     CHITKCHES     AND     SLAVERY. 

THIS  leads  me  to  examine  a  side  of  the  American 
question  upon  which  attention  is  naturally  fixed  at 
the  present  time  ;  how  is  it  that  the  iniquities  ol' 
slavery  are  maintained  among  this  charitable  and 
liberal  people  ?  how  is  it  that  such  iniquities  have 
subsisted  under  the  influence  of  so  powerful  a 
Christian  sentiment  ?  Can  it  be  true  that  Christians 
have  deserted  the  cause  of  justice  ?  Has  the  Gos 
pel  had  the  place  which  belongs  to  it,  in  the  great 
struggle  that  is  going  on  between  the  JSTorth  and  the; 
South  ?  yes  ;  or  no.  This  is  perhaps  the  point  oi' 
all  others  most  important  to  clear  up  ;  first,  because 
it  is  the  one  on  which  the  most  errors  have  accumu 
lated,;  next,  because  it  is  the  one  most  closely  con 
nected  with  the  final  solution  ;  for  this  solution  will 
not  be  happy,  if  the  Gospel  has  no  hand  in  it. 

To  judge  rightly,  let  us  approach  and  endeavor 


THE    CHUIICHES    AJSTD    SLAVEKY.  73 

to  comprehend  the  true  position  of  those  whose  con 
duct  we  seek  to  appreciate.  See  the  South,  for 
example,  where  the  almost  universal  opinion  is  fa 
vorable  to  slavery,  where  governors  write  dithyram- 
bics  on  its  benefits,  where  many  Christians  have 
succeeded  in  discovering  that  it  is  sanctioned  by  the 
Gospel,  where  men  of  sincerity  are  now  placing 
their  impious  crusades  in  behalf  of  its  extension  un 
der  the  protection  of  God,  where  numerous  preach 
ers  expound  in  their  own  way  the  celebrated  text 
"  Cursed  be  Canaan  !  "  Do  not  these  sentiments  of 
the  South,  detestable  as  they  are,  find,  to  a  certain 
point,  their  explanation  and  excuse  in  the  circum 
stances  in  which  the  South  is  placed  ? 

The  power  of  surroundings  is  incalculable. 
If  we  ourselves,  who  condemn  slavery,  and  are 
right  in  so  doing,  had  been  reared  in  Charleston ; 
if  we  had  led  a  planter's  life  from  our  earliest  in 
fancy  ;  if  we  had  nourished  our  minds  with  their 
ideas;  if  we  considered  our  monetary  interests  men 
aced  by  Abolitionism  ;  if  the  image  of  more  fearful 
perils,  of  violent  destructions  and  massacres,  ap 
peared  to  haunt  our  thoughts ;  if  the  political  an 
tagonism  between  the  Kortli  and  the  South  came 
to  add  its  venom  to  the  passions  already  excited 
within  us,  is  it  certain  that  we  ourselves  should  not 
4 


7-1          THE  CHUKCHE8  AND  SLAVERY. 

be  figuring  at  the  present  time  among  the  despera 
does  who  are  firing  upon  the  ships  of  the  Union, 
and  attempting  the  foundation  of  a  Southern  Con 
federacy  ? 

It  is  well  to  ask  this  of  ourselves,  in  order  to 
learn  to  respect,  to  love,  and  consequently  to  aid 
those  whose  conduct  we  blame  the  most  strongly. 
For  my  part,  whenever  I  am  tempted  to  set  mysel  .* 
up  as  a  judge  or  an  accuser  of  the  South,  I  ask  my 
self  what  I  should  do  if  I  belonged  to  the  Soutl , 
and  this  brings  me  back  to  the  true  position.  I 
remember,  too,  what  I  saw,  with  my  own  eyes,  at 
the  time  when  the  discussion  on  slavery  was  carried 
on  in  France  ;  the  colonial  passions,  the  blindest 
and  most  violent  of  all,  broke  cut  in  Martinique 
and  the  isle  of  Bourbon,  as  they  had  broken  out  be 
fore  in  Jamaica,  where  the  circulars  of  Mr.  Canning, 
the  proposition,  for  example,  to  suppress  the  flagel 
lation  of  women,  had  excited  a  veritable  explosion. 
There  were  some  very  honorable  men  among  those 
who  were  indignant  at  this  measure  ;  and,  among 
us,  likewise,  the  planters  who  determined  to  com 
bat  all  modification  of  the  negro  system,  were  good 
men.  Severity  is  almost  always  a  defect  of  mem 
ory  ;  we  blame  others  without  pity,  only  when  wo 
begin  by  forgetting  our  own  history.  We  French- 


THE   CHUKCHES    AND   SLAVERY.  75 

men,  who  had  so  much  difficulty  in  emancipating 
our  own  slaves,  and  wlio  would  not,  perhaps,  have 
succeeded  in  it,  had  it  not  been  for  the  bold  deci 
sion  of  M.  Schoelcher  ;  we,  who  have  sought  to  take 
back,  in  part,  through  our  colonial  regulations,  the 
liberty  accorded  the  blacks ;  we,  who  suffered  re- 
cruitals  by  purchase  to  be  made  on  the  African 
coast ;  who  formerly  organized  the  expedition 
charged  with  re-establishing  slavery  and  the  slave 
trade  at  St.  Domingo  ;  who  suppressed  the  slave 
trade  at  the  Congress  of  Vienna  only  in  stipulat 
ing  its  continuance  for  some  years  ;  who  carried 
into  our  discussions  on  the  right  of  search,  a  very 
meagre  interest  for  the  victims  of  the  slavers  ;  we, 
whose  consciences  are  burdened  with  these  mis 
deeds,  are  bound  to  use  indulgence  towards  the 
States  of  the  South. 

This  remark  was  necessary :  it  is  from  the 
South  that  the  Biblical  theories  in  favor  of  slavery 
proceed ;  it  is  on  account  of  the  South  that  these 
theories  have  been  adopted  by  certain  Christians  of 
the  Xorth,  desirous,  above  every  thing,  of  avoiding 
both  the  dismemberment  of  the  United  States,  and 
that  of  the  churches  and  religious  societies.  Take 
away  the  South,  and  no  one  in  America,  any  more 
than  in  Europe,  will  dream  of  discovering  in  the 


<O  THE    CHURCHES    AND    SLAVERY. 

Gospel  the  divine  approbation  of  the  atrocities  of 
slavery. 

I  comprehend  better  than  most,  the  sentimen: 
of  indignation  that  is  caused  by  these  deplorable 
teachings,  in  which  slavery  is  sometimes  excused, 
sometimes  exalted  ;  I  comprehend,  that,  under  tho 
impulse  of  a  sentiment  so  justifiable,  one  may  be  led 
on  to  anathematize  preachers  and  churches  in  a 
mass,  that  he  may  even  come  to  the  point  of  repre 
senting  to  himself  the  Christian  faith  as  the  true  ob 
stacle  to  the  progress  of  liberty.  This  is  a  great 
perversion  of  the  truth,  but  we  can  easily  under 
stand  how  it  has  succeeded  in  gaining  the  assent  or 
generous  and  sincere  minds.  I  myself  have  read  a 
sermon  which  was  listened  to  with  sympathy  in  a 
certain  Presbyterian  church  in  New  York,  in  which 
slavery,  declares  right  until  the  return  of  Jesus 
Christ,  ceases  to  be  so,  I  know  not  why,  during  the 
millennium  ?  I  know  the  nature  of  that  theology, 
too  truly  styled  cottony,  which  is  displayed  in  the 
clerical  columns  of  a  weekly  religious  paper.  Not 
withstanding,  I  hasten  to  say  that  these  revolting 
excesses  seldom  appear  except  in  seaports,  and  es 
pecially  in  New  York.  The  interests  of  this  great 
city  are  bound  up  to  such  a  degree  with  those  of 
the  cotton  States,  that  we  may  literally  consider 


THE    CHUKCHES    AND    SLAVERY.  77 

York  as  a  prolongation  of  the  South.  "We 
need  not  be  surprised,  therefore,  to  find  some  con 
gregations  there  which  are  ruled  by  the  prejudices 
of  the  South.  Besides,  even  in  Xew  York,  other 
churches  protest  with  holy  zeal,  and  other  journals, 
among  which  I  will  cite  the  Independent,  the  organ 
of  the  Congregationalists,  combat  slavery  unceas 
ingly  in  the  name  of  the  Gospel. 

Then  people  persist  in  seeing  only  New  York, 
in  taking  notice  only  of  what  passes  in  Xew  York  ; 
but  they  forget  that  New  York  is  an  exception  in 
the  North,  as  much  by  its  commercial  position  as 
by  its  opinions  and  votes.  Let  us  go  ever  so  short 
a  distance  from  the  city  into  the  surrounding  coun 
try,  and  we  will  encounter  a  different  spirit — a 
spirit  thoroughly  impregnated  with  Christian  faith, 
and  little  disposed  to  covenant  with  slavery.  There 
we  begin  to  see  that  race  of  Puritan  farmers,  but 
lately  represented  by  John  Brown.  Has  not  the 
attempt  been  made  to  transform  him  also  into  a 
free  thinker,  a  philosophic  enemy  of  the  Bible,  and, 
from  this  very  cause,  an  enemy  to  slavery  ?  "We 
need  nothing  more  than  his  last  letter  to  his  wife, 
to  show  from  what  source  he  had  drawn  that  cour 
age,  so  misdirected  but  so  indomitable,  which  he 
displayed  at  Harper's  Ferry  ;  the  Christian,  the 


78  THE    CHURCHES    AND    SLAVKUY. 

Biblical  and  orthodox  Christian,  comes  to  explair 
the  liberal  and  the  hero. 

That  Christians  in  general  condemned  the  en 
terprise  of  John  Brown,  while  sympathizing  witl 
him,  I  hasten  to  acknowledge  ;  and  I  am  far  fron 
blaming  them.  That  many  have  committed  the 
real  wrong  of  recoiling  before  the  consequences  of 
an  open  and  decided  conduct,  I  arn  forced  to  admit. 
Yes,  without  even  mentioning  the  South,  where,  as 
every  one  knows,  the  reign  of  terror  prevails,  there; 
are  numerous  Protestant  and  Catholic  churches 
in  the  remainder  of  the  Confederation,  which  have- 
refused  to  declare  themselves,  as  they  should  have; 
done,  in  opposition  to  the  crime  of  slavery.  Lei 
us  not  hasten,  however,  to  cry  out  against  false 
hood  and  hypocrisy ;  most  honorable  and  sincere 
men  have  believed  that  they  would  do  more  harm 
than  good  by  bringing  on  a  rupture  with  the  South. 
Let  us  not  forget  that  political  rupture  is  compli 
cated  here  with  religious  rupture.  Now,  all  the 
churches  extend  over  both  North  and  South ;  all 
the  charitable  societies  number  committees  and 
subscribers  in  both  North  and  South.  The  point 
in  question  then,  (let  us  weigh  the  immensity  of  the 
sacrifice,)  the  point  in  question  is  to  rend  in  twain 
j-.ll  the  churches,  to  break  in  pieces  all  the  socie- 


THE    CHUIJC1IES    AND    SLAVERY.  79 

ties,  to  expose  to  perilous  risks  all  the  great  works 
that  do  honor  to  the  United  States. 

Doubtless,  to  have  gone  their  way,  to  have  done 
their  duty,  and  not  to  have  troubled  themselves 
about  the  consequences,  was  the  great  rule  of  ac 
tion.  I  grant  it ;  yet,  notwithstanding,  I  refuse  to 
stigmatize,  as  many  have  done,  those  men  who 
have  committed  tlfe  fault  of  hesitating  ;  I  feel  that 
to  rank  them  among  the  champions  of  slavery  is  to 
pervert  facts,  and  to  fall  into  a  blamable  exaggera 
tion.  Again,  to-day,  after  the  election  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln,  cannot  citizens  'be  cited  in  the  JSTorth  who  are 
devoted  to  the  cause  of  the  negroes,  but  who  refuse 
to  participate  in  abolitionist  demonstrations,  because 
they  fear  (and  the  sentiments  does  them  honor)  to 
encourage  the  impending  insurrections  ? 

This  said,  I  wish  to  prove  by  some  too  well- 
known  facts,  what  has  been  this  forbearance,  or 
even  this  pretended  hesitation  of  orthodox  Chris 
tianity.  On  regarding  the  churches,  I  see  two, 
and  the  most  considerable,  which  have  openly  de 
clared  themselves  :  the  Congregationalists  and  the 
Methodists.  About  six  months  since,  the  General 
Conference  of  Methodists  resolutely  plunged  into 
the  current  without  suffering  itself  to  be  trammelled 
by  the  protests  which  came  to  it  from  the  South. 


80  THE    CHU11CHES   AND    SLAVERY. 

I  read  in  a  report  presented  to  one  of  the  great  di 
visions  of  this  church  :  "  We  believe  that  to  sell  or 
to  hold  in  bondage  human  beings  under  the  name 
of  chattels,  is  in  contradiction  to  the  divine  laws 
and  to  humanity  ;  and  that  it  conflicts  with  the 
golden  rule  and  with  the  rule  of  our  discipline." 
Last  year,  a  numerous  assemblage  of  delegates  of 
the  Congregational  churches  adepted  the  following 
resolution  :  "  Slaveholding  is  immoral,  and  slave 
holders  should  not  be  admitted  as  members  of 
Christian  churches.  We  ought  to  protest  against  it 
without  ceasing,  in  the  name  of  the  Gospel,  until 
it  shall  have  entirely  disappeared."  And  this  reso 
lution  has  not  remained  a  dead  letter  :  a  Congrega 
tional  church  of  Ohio  has  expelled  from  its  bosom 
one  of  its  deacons,  who  had  contributed  in  the  ca 
pacity  of  magistrate  to  the  extradition  of  a  fugitive 
slave. 

Other  churches,  without  taking  so  decided  a 
position,  have  at  least  manifested  by  their  internal 
convulsions  the  profound  interest  excited  among 
them  by  the  question  of  slavery.  In  this  manner 
a  secession  has  just  rent  the  Presbyterian  church  in 
twain,  because  the  declared  adversaries  of  slavery 
were  unwilling  to  remain  responsible  for  a  forbear 
ance  which  appeared  to  them  criminal.  These 


THE    CHUKCHKS    AND    SLAVERY.  81 

things  are  signs  of  life,  and  these  signs  are  begin 
ning  to  show  themselves  even  in  the  midst  of  eccle 
siastical  bodies  which  have  acted,  until  now,  in  the 
most  unchristian  manner.  A  warm  discussion  has 
been  thus  called  forth,  and  this  signifies  a  great 
deal,  among  the  members  of  the  Episcopal  church 
in  ISTew  York.  The  majority  stifled  the  debate ; 
will  it  be  able  to  do  this  always  ? 

If  from  the  churches  we  proceed  to  the  religious 
societies,  we  find  the  same  symptoms  among  them  ; 
here,  they  declare  themselves  openly  against  sla 
very,  in  spite  of  the  menaces  of  the  South ;  there, 
they  succeed  in  staving  off  the  question,  yet  at  the 
price  of  excited  debates,  which  continually  spring 
up  again,  of  a  great  scandal,  and  of  protests  which 
are  heard  by  Christians  through  the  whole  world. 
The  course  of  conduct  adopted  by  the  great  Ameri 
can  Board  of  Missions  is  the  more  significant,  inas 
much  as  its  committee  is  composed  of  members  be 
longing  to  various  evangelical  denominations ;  it 
stands,  therefore,  as  their  permanent  representative, 
yet  this  has  not  prevented  its  adoption  of  vigorous 
resolutions  :  it  has  broken  off  its  relations  with  the 
missionaries  employed  among  the  Choctaws,  for 
the  sole  reason  that  they  refused  to  take  the  attitude 
befitting  Christians  in  the  face  of  the  Indian  slave 
holders. 


THE    CHURCHES    A^D    SLAVERY. 

Another  great  body,  the  Tract  Society,  unfor 
tunately,  has  not  followed  this  example  ;  the  general 
assemblies  held  at  Kew  York,  and  ruled  by  tli3 
spirit  of  that  city,  have  given  a  majority  to  tli3 
party  opposed  to  the  discussion  of  the  subject ;  bnl, 
be  it  said  to  the  honor  of  American  Christians,  th  3 
very  large  minority  resisted  to  the  end  ;  the  latter 
was  sustained  by  outside  opinion,  and  many  friends 
of  the  Gospel  joined  with  it  in  deploring  the  pusil 
lanimity  which  yielded  to  the  menaces  of  the  Soutli. 
A  crisis  thence  arose,  which  has  not  yet  reached  its 
height,  and  the  first  fruits  of  which  have  been  tli  3 
foundation  of  a  rival  society  in  Boston,  to  which 
adherents  are  gathering  from  all  sides. 

These  are  grave  events,  for  they  manifest  tho 
inmost  revolutions  of  the  human  soul.  Would  you 
know  what  will  take  place  in  political  societies  ? 
Begin  by  informing  yourself  about  what  is  taking 
place  in  the  consciences  of  the  public.  Kow  it  is 
evident  that  the  public  conscience  is  in  motion  in 
the  United  States.  The  vast  obstacles  by  which 
this  movement  was  trammelled  have  been  sin- 
mounted  on  every  side.  I  wish  no  other  proof  of 
this  than  the  deplorable  fact  of  which  I  have  just 
made  mention  :  the  conduct  of  the  Tract  Society, 
the  internal  crisis  which  it  has  experienced,  the 


THE    CHURCHES    AND    SLAVERY.  83 

reprobation  which  it  encounters  in  Europe  as  in 
America.  Are  not  these  palpable  proofs  of  the 
too  little  known  truth  that  the  great  moral  force 
which  is  struggling  with  American  slavery  is  the 
Gospel  ? 

And  how  could  it  be  otherwise  ?  If  we  had  not 
positive  facts  before  our  eyes,  if  we  did  not  know 
that  one  entire  sect  of  Christians,  the  Quakers, 
have  devoted  themselves,  body  and  goods,  to  the 
service  of  poor  fugitive  slaves,  if  we  did  not  recog 
nize  the  deep  Puritan  imprint  in  the  movement 
which  has  colonized  Kansas,  and  in  that  which  has 
borne  Mr.  Lincoln  to  the  presidency,  should  we 
not  be  forced  to  ask  ourselves  whether  it  is  possible 
that  the  Gospel  remains  a  stranger  to  a  struggle  un 
dertaken  for  liberty  ?  There  exist,  thank  God, 
between  liberty  and  the  Gospel,  close,  eternal,  and 
indestructible  relations.  I  know  of  one  species  of 
freedom  which  contains  the  germ  of  all  the  rest — 
freedom  of  soul ;  now  what  was  it,  if  not  the  Gos 
pel,  that  introduced  this  freedom  into  the  world  ? 
Remember  ancient  Paganism  :  neither  liberty  of 
conscience,  nor  liberty  of  individuals,  nor  liberty 
of  families — such  was  its  definition.  The  State  laid 
its  hand  upon  all  the  inmost  part  of  existence,  the 
creeds  of  the  fathers,  and  the  education  of  the  chil- 


84  THE   CHUKCHES    AND    SLAVERY. 

dren ;  moral  slavery  also  existed  everywhere,  and  if 
slavery,  properly  called,  liad  been  anywhere  want 
ing,  it  would  have  given  cause  for  astonishment. 
The  Gospel  came,  and  with  it  these  new  phenomena  : 
individual  belief,  true  independence  makes  its  ad 
vent  here  on  earth,  a  liberty  worthy  of  the  namo 
appears  "finally  among  men.  From  this  time  wo 
see  men  lifting  tip  their  heads,  despotism  finding  it 5 
limits,  the  humblest,  the  weakest  opposing  to  it  in 
surmountable  barriers. 

They  act  without  reflection,  who  attempt  to 
place  in  opposition  these  two  things  :  the  Gospel 
and  liberty.  And  remark  that  in  the  United  States, 
in  particular,  the  Gospel  and  liberty  are  accus 
tomed  to  go  together  ;  they  first  landed  together  at 
New  Plymouth  with  the  passengers  of  the  May 
flower.  Why  had  these  poor  pilgrims  torn  them 
selves  from  all  the  habits  of  home  and  country,  to 
seek  in  the  dead  of  winter  an  asylum  on  an  un 
known  soil  ?  Because  they  loved  the  Gospel,  and 
because  they  desired  liberty  ;  the  chief  of  liberties 
— that  of  the  conscience.  From  the  21st  of  De 
cember,  1620,  there  existed  on  the  shores  of  tho 
New  World  the  beginning  of  a  free  people — freo 
through  the  powerful  influence  of  the  Gospel.  All 
who  have  studied  the  United  States  with  sinceritv. 


THE   CHURCHES    AND   SLAVERY.  85 

will  ratify  the  opinion  of  M.  de  Tocqueville: 
"  America  is  the  place,  of  all  others,  where  the 
Christian  religion  has  preserved  the  most  power 
over  souls."  This  power  is  such,  that  we  find  it  at 
the  base  of  all  lasting  reforms.  In  this  country, 
in  which  the  idea  of  authority  has  little  force,  there 
is  one  authority,  that  of  the  Bible,  before  which  the 
majority  bow,  and  which  is  of  the  more  importance 
inasmuch  as  it  alone  commands 'respect  and  obe 
dience. 

If  you  doubt  the  decisive  part  which  the  Gospel 
fills  in  American  debates,  look  at  the  pains  taken 
by  parties  to  render  public  homage  to  it,  the  Demo 
crats  as  the  Republicans,  Mr  Buchanan  as  Mr.  Lin 
coln.  Then  look  more  closely  at  the  Republican 
party,  do  you  not  find  in  it  again  the  visible  traces 
of  Puritanism  ?  It  is  the  ancient  States,  it  is  old 
America,  it  is  also  the  Young  America  of  the  farm 
ers,  of  the  pioneers  of  the  Western  solitudes,  the 
America  of  the  clearers  of  the  forests,  the  America 
of  the  Bible  and  the  schools.  This  America  long 
since  abolished  slavery,  and  prevented  its  introduc 
tion  into  the  territories  that  acknowledged  its  in 
fluence.  In  the  meanest  of  its  cabins,  you  will  find 
the  Scriptures,  hymn  books,  reports  of  religious  so 
cieties  ;  in  the  majority  of  its  families,  domestic 


86  THE    CHURCHES    AND    SLAVERY. 

worship  is  celebrated  ;  in  its  prayer-meetings,  it  is 
not  rare  to  see  physicians,  lawyers,  magistrates, 
marine  officers,  taking  part  publicly  ;  its  statesmen 
do  not  think  themselves  dishonored  by  keeping  a 
Sunday-school ;  the  Gospel,  in  a  word,  is  a  power  to 
which  no  other  can  compare,  and  outside  of  which 
it  would  be  puerile  to  expect  to  succeed  in  accom 
plishing  any  thing  of  importance. 

Here  the  action  of  the  Gospel  can  be  plainly 
detected ;  an  important  religious  event  preceded 
and  paved  the  way  for  the  political  event  which  we 
have  witnessed:  before  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln, 
an  awakening  took  place.  The  American  awaken 
ing,  which  must  not  be  confounded  with  those  re 
vivals,  the  description  and  sometimes  the  caricature 
of  which  have  been  transmitted  us  by  travellers,  the 
awakening,  which  had  neither  ecstasies  nor  convul 
sive  sobs,  and  the  distinctive  feature  of  which  was 
a  tone  of  simplicity  and  conviction,  produced  one 
of  those  profound  agitations  of  the  conscience, 
which  give  rise  to  generous  resolutions.  The  finan 
cial  crisis  had  just  overthrown  the  fortunes  of  the 
people ;  they  turned  towards  God  and  began  to 
pray.  On  a  route  of  three  thousand  miles,  wher 
ever  one  might  stop,  he  found  a  meeting,  a  simple, 
spontaneous  meeting,  at  which  the  pastors  did  not 


THE    CHURCHES    A2xD    SLAVERY.  87 

take  the  initiative,  where  they  were  present  instead 
of  presiding.  Ere  long,  public  attention  became 
fixed  on  this  movement,  the  greatness  of  which 
could  not  be  contested ;  the  most  hostile  journals 
ended  by  rendering  it  homage.  And  it  lasted,  it 
still  subsists,  it  has  produced  something  else  than 
meetings  and  prayers,  it  has  induced  extensive 
moral  reforms,  it  has  closed  places  of  debauchery 
and  taverns  by  hundreds.  The  military  and  com 
mercial  marine  of  the  United  States  has  been  es 
pecially  subjected  to  its  influence ;  captains,  officers, 
and  sailors  in  great  numbers,  have  shown  by  their 
lives  that  their  habits  of  piety  are  more  than  a 
vain  form  ;  American  vessels  are  perhaps'  the  only 
ones  at  the  present  day  in  which  groups  of  sailors 
assemble  to  converse  on  the  interests  of  their  soul, 
and  to  make  the  praises  of  God  resound  over  the 
ocean. 

In  strengthening  the  religious  element,  in  excit 
ing  the  Puritan  fibre  of  America,  the  awakening  cer 
tainly  contributed  a  great  share  to  the  success  of  the 
party  opposed  to  slavery.  South  Carolina  acknowl 
edged  this  herself  lately,  when  she  inserted  the  fol 
lowing  phrase  in  her  declaration  of  independence : 
"  The  public  opinion  of  the  North  has  given  to  a  great 
political  error  the  sanction  of  a  still  more  erroneous 


88  THE    CHURCHES    AKD    SLAVERY. 

religious  sentiment."  Is  this  religions  sentiment, 
assailed  by  the  slaveholders,  that  of  free  thinkers,  or 
of  Christians  ?  The  South  is  not  mistaken ;  it 
knows  that  the  truly  difficult  acts  of  emancipation 
are  accomplished  on  earth  only  by  the  power  of 
the  Gospel ;  it  saw  the  great  abolition  impulse  rise 
in  England,  and  spread  over  the  United  States  ; 
journals,  committees,  correspondence,  all  indicated 
that  the  English  had  become  the  American  move 
ment,  and  was  continued  under  the  same  banner. 
Under  this  banner,  and  this  alone,  it  has  conquered. 
A  colossal  work  in  fact  is  here  in  question,  be 
fore  which  all  purely  human  forces  fall  to  the 
ground.  If  such  prodigious  Christian  efforts  were 
needed  to  give  the  victory  to  "Wilberforce,  what  will 
be  required  in  the  heart  of  a  country  where  slavery 
is  not  exiled  to  distant  colonies,  and  where  it  has  ac 
quired  formidable  proportions  with  years.  There  are 
easy  abolitions,  which  are  wrought  in  some  sort  of 
themselves,  and  which  seem  the  natural  corollary  of 
a  political  revolution  ;  as,  for  instance,  that  which 
occurred  forty  years  ago  in  the  Spanish  republics. 
Bolivar,  Quiroga,  and  the  other  leaders,  needed  the 
support  of  all  classes  of  the  population  in  their 
struggle  against  Spain  ;  they  adopted  the  expedient 
of  suppressing  slavery.  In  taking  this  resolution, 


THE   CHURCHES    AND   SLAVERY.  89 

they  accomplished  a  most  honorable  deed,  but 
they  made  little  change  in  the  condition  of  the 
country,  for  large  planting  was  rare,  and  both  the 
blacks  and  the  whites  were  few  in  numbers,  less 
numerous,  indeed,  than  the  Indians  and  the  half 
breeds. 

If  political  reasons  then  sufficed,  it  is  evident 
that  they  are  far  from  sufficing  to-day :  we  must 
seek  elsewhere  for  the  explanation  of  the  movement 
which,  a  long  time  wavering  and  suppressed,  has 
just  manifested  its  irresistible  power  in  the  United 
States.  We  have  recognized  in  it  the  hand  of  the 
Gospel ;  and  this  is  no  indifferent  matter,  for  if  the 
Gospel  had  no  part  in  it,  such  a  movement  would 
end  in  destruction. 

The  responsibility  of  Christians  will  be  great  in 
America  ;  they  can  do  much  for  the  favorable  solu 
tion  of  a  problem  which  menaces  the  future  of  their 
country,  and  overshadows  that  of  humanity.  The 
mode  of  pacification  here  is,  to  declare  themselves ; 
the  pretensions  of  the  South,  its  fatal  progress,  the 
extreme  peril  to  which  but  lately  it  exposed  the 
Confederation,  are  due  much  more  than  is  imagined 
to  the  hesitation  of  the  religious  societies  and  the 
churches.  If  it  had  long  since  been  brought  face  to 
face  with  a  determined  evangelical  doctrine,  the 


90  THE    CHUKC1IES    AND    SLAVERY. 

South,  which  knows  also,  though  in  a  less  degree, 
the  influence  of  the  Gospel,  would  have  avoided  fall 
ing  into  the  excesses  to  which  it  is  now  abandoned. 
The  faults  of  the  past  are  irreparable,  but  it  is 
possible  to  ward  off  their  return.  Let  all  Northern 
churches,  let  all  societies,  let  all  eminent  Christians 
take  henceforth  with  firmness  the  position  which 
they  ought  to  have  taken  from  the  first ;  let  them 
present  to  their  Southern  brethren  a  solid  rallying 
point,  and  the  effects  of  this  faithful  conduct  will 
not  be  slow  in  making  themselves  felt.  There  is,  in 
the  slave  States,  especially  in  those  occupying  an 
intermediate  position,  more  disturbance  of  thought, 
and  more  conflicts  of  feeling,  than  we  generally 
suppose.  Let  the  banner  of  the  Christian  faith  be 
openly  displayed,  and  many  good  men  will  rally 
round  it :  this  is  certain. 

And  let  no  one  put  forward  the  shameful  pre 
text  :  there  are  sceptics,  rationalists,  free  thinkers 
in  the  ranks  of  Abolitionism  !  Why  not  ?  Ques 
tions  of  this  sort,  thanks  to  the  Gospel,  have  entered 
in  the  domain  of  common  morality  shall  I  desert 
these  questions  in  order  to  avoid  contact  with  men 
who  reject  the  essential  doctrines  of  Christianity  ? 
I  confess  that  the  orthodoxy  which  should  draw 
such  conclusions  would  appear  suspicious  to  me. 


THE   CHUKCHES   AND    SLAVERY.  91 

Yoltaire  pleading  for  the  Galas  will  not  make  me 
turn  my  back. on  religious  liberty  ;  Charming  writ 
ing  pages  against  slavery,  revealing  a  heart  more 
Christian  than  his  doctrine ;  Parker,  blending  his 
noble  efforts  in  favor  of  the  negroes  with  his  assaults 
against  the  Bible,  will  not  alienate  me  from  a  cause 
which  was  mine  before  it  was  theirs. 

I  say,  besides,  that  the  objections  of  these  men 
against  Christianity  force  me  to  ask  whether  our 
conduct  as  Christians  be  not  one  of  the  principal 
causes  of  their  scepticism.  Is  it  quite  certain  that 
Yoltaire  himself  would  have  been  the  adversary 
that  we  know  him,  if  he  had  not  seen  that  thought 
was  stifled,  that  liberty  was  crushed,  that  conscience 
was  violated  in  the  name  of  the  Gospel  ?  Would 
not  this  same  Gospel  have  presented  itself  under  a 
different  aspect  to  Parker,  Channing,  and  the  other 
Unitarians  of  Boston,  if  they  had  seen  it  at  its  post, 
the  post  of  honor,  at  the  head  of  all  generous  ideas 
and  true  liberties  ?  Yes ;  there  are  Abolitionists 
who  reject  the  Bible  because  they  have  heard  cer 
tain  orthodox  Christians  maintain  that  the  Bible  is 
in  favor  of  slavery.  Whoever  preaches  this,  is  of 
a  school  of  impiety. 


92  THE   GOSPEL   AND   SLAVERY. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE     GOSPEL     AND      SLAVERY. 

How  did  they  set  to  work  to  preach  this  ?  I  will 
answer  this  question  by  two  others  :  How  did  Bos- 
suet  set  to  work  to  write  his  Politique  tiree  de 
VEcriturc,  to  proclaim  in  the  name  of  the  Bible  ob 
ligatory  monarchy,  divine  right,  the  absolute  author 
ity  of  kings,  the  duty  of  destroying  fake  religion  by 
force,  the  duty  of  officially  sustaining  the  truth,  the 
duty  of  having  a  budget  of  modes  of  worship,  the 
duty  of  uniting  Church  and  State,  without  speaking 
of  his  Biblical  apology  for  war,  for  the  use  of  Louis 
XIY.  ?  How  did  certain  doctors  among  the  Round 
heads,  in  their  turn,  set  to  work  to  proclaim  the  di 
vine  right  of  republics,  and  to  ordain  the  massacre 
of  the  new  Amalekites  ?  The  method-  is  very  sim 
ple  :  it  consists  only  in  confounding  the  law  with 
the  Gospel.  This  confusion  once  wrought,  the  po 
litical  and  civil  institutions  of  the  Old  Testament 


THE   GOSPEL    AND    SLAVERY.  93 

lose  their  temporary  and  local  character,  and  we  go 
to  the  New  Testament  in  search  of  what  is  not 
there  :  namely,  political  and  civil  institutions. 

Though  the  Gospel  is  not  the  law,  it  is  a  truth 
which  has  been  making  its  way  since  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  which  seems  to  be  no  longer  contested 
to-day,  except  in  the  camp  of  the  champions  of  sla 
very.  The  Gospel,  which  addresses  itself  to  all  na 
tions  and  all  ages,  does  not  pretend  to  force  them 
into  the  strait  vestments  of  the  ancient  Jewish  na 
tion  ;  no  more  does  it  pretend  to  "  sew  a  piece  of 
new  cloth  on  an  old  garment,  else  the  new  cloth 
taketh  away  from  the  old,  and  the  rent  is  made 
worse."  I  speak  here  with  a  view  to  those  who,  in 
the  law  as  in  the  Gospel,  in  the  New  Testament  as 
in  the  Old,  venerate  the  infallible  word  of  God.  A 
revelation,  to  be  divine,  does  not  cease  to  be  pro 
gressive,  and  nothing  exacts  that  all  truths  should 
be  promulgated  in  a  single  day.  If  God  deemed 
proper  to  give  to  his  people,  so  long  as  they  needed 
it,  a  legislation  adapted  to  their  social  condition, 
this  legislation,  divinely  given  at  that  time,  may  be 
also  divinely  abrogated  afterward.  And  this  is  what 
has  taken  place.  Those  who  quote  to  us  texts  from 
the  Old  Testament  concerning  slavery,  appear  to 
have  forgotten  the  saying  of  Jesus  Christ  in  refer- 


94  THE    GOSPEL    AND    SLAVERY. 

ence  to  another  institution,  divorce :  "  It  was  or. 
account  of  the  hardness  of  jour  hearts."     Yes,  or 
account  of  the  hardness  of  their  hearts,  God  estab 
lished  among  the  Israelites,  incapable,  at  that  time 
of  rising  higher,  pro  visionary  regulations,  perfect  as; 
regards  his  condescension,  but  most  imperfect,  a?; 
he  declares  himself,  as  regards  the  absolute  truth 
He  who  makes  no  account  of  this  great  fact  wil 
find  in  the  books  of  Moses,  and  in  the  Prophets, 
pretexts  either  for  practising  today  what  was  toler 
ated  only  for  a  time,  or  for  attacking  the  Scrip 
tures,  indignant  at  what  they  contain. 

It  was  Jesus  Christ  himself,  therefore,  who  drew 
the  line  of  demarcation  between  the  law  and  the 
Gospel — who  announced  the  end  of  local  and  tem 
porary  institutions.  Has  he  revealed  other  institu 
tions,  this  time  definitive  ?  To  form  such  an  idea 
of  the  Gospel,  we  must  never  have  opened  it.  The 
Gospel  is  not  a  Koran.  In  the  Koran,  we  doubt 
less  find  both  civil  and  criminal  laws,  and  the  prin 
ciples  of  government ;  the  Apostles  did  not  once 
tread  on  this  ground.  Fancy  what  their  work 
would  have  been,  had  they  substituted  a  social  for 
a  spiritual  revolution — had  they  touched,  above  all, 
the  question  of  slavery,  which  formed  part  of  the 
fundamental  law  of  the  ancient  world.  And  here 


THE    GOSPEL    AND    SLAVERY.  95 

I  wish  my  thought  to  be  clearly-  comprehended  :  I 
do  not  pretend  that  the  Apostles  were  conscious  of 
the  unlawfulness  of  slavery,  and  that  they  avoided 
pointing  it  out  through  policy,  for  fear  of  compro 
mising  their  work.  ]S~o,  indeed,  this  happened  un 
consciously.  According  to  all  appearances,  they 
held  the  opinions  of  their  times,  and  God  revealed 
nothing  to  them  on  the  subject,  wishing  that  the 
abolition  of  slavery,  like  all  the  social  results  of  the 
Gospel,  should  be  produced  by  moral  agency,  which 
works  from  within  outward,  which  changes  the 
heart  before  changing  the  actions. 

At  the  time  of  the  Apostles,  there  were  many 
other  abuses  than  slavery ;  they  never  wrote  a 
word  in  their  condemnation.  They  make  allusions 
to  war,  yet  say  nothing  of  the  nameless  horrors 
which  then  attended  it ;  they  speak  of  the  sword 
placed  in  the  king's  hands  to  punish  crime,  yet  say 
nothing  of  those  atrocious  tortures,  in  the  first  rank 
of  which  must  be  cited  crucifixion  ;  they  make  use 
of  figures  borrowed  from  the  public  games,  yet  say 
nothing  either  of  the  combats  of  the  gladiators,  or 
of  the  abominations  which  sullied  other  spectacles  ; 
they  unceasingly  call  to  mind  the  reciprocal  rela 
tions  of  husbands  and  wives,  of  parents  and  chil 
dren,  yet  say  nothing  of  the  despotic  authority  which 


06  THE    GOSPEL   AND    SLAVERY. 

the  Eoman  law  conferred  upon  the  father,  or  of  tin 3 
debasement  to  which  it  condemned  the  wife.  Tho 
evangelical  method  is  this  :  it  has  not  occupied  it 
self  with  communities,  yet  has  wrought  the  pro- 
foundest  of  the  social  revolutions  ;  it  has  not  de 
manded  any  reform,  yet  has  accomplished  all  of 
them  ;  the  atrocities  of  war  and  of  torture,  the  glad 
iatorial  combats  and  immodest  spectacles,  the  des 
potism  of  fathers  and  the  debasement  of  women,  all 
have  disappeared  before  a  profound,  internal  ac 
tion,  which  attacks  the  very  roots  of  the  evil. 

l^ot  only  does  the  Gospel  forbear  to  touch  on 
social  and  religious  problems,  but,  even  on  ques 
tions  of  morals,  it  refuses  to  furnish  detailed  solu 
tions.  Its  system  of  morality  is  very  short ;  and  in 
this  lies  its  greatness,  through  this  it  becomes  mo 
rality  instead  of  casuistry.  Cases  of  conscience, 
special  directions,  a  moral  code,  promulgated  article 
by  article — you  will  find  in  it  nothing  of  this  sort. 
What  you  will  find  there,  and  there  alone,  is  a 
growing  morality,  which  passes  my  expression. 
Two  or  three  sayings  were  written  eighteen  centu 
ries  ago,  and  these  sayings  contain  in  the  germ  a 
series  of  commandments,  of  transformation,  of  pro 
gression,  which  we  have  riot  nearly  exhausted.  I 
spoke  a  moment  since  of  the  progress  of  revela- 


THE    GOSPEL    AND    SLAVERY.  97 

tions  ;  I  must  speak  now  of  the  progress  which  is 
being  wrought  in  virtue  of  a  revelation  constantly 
the  same,  but  constantly  becoming  better  under 
stood,  which  multiplies  our  duties  in  proportion  as 
it  enlightens  our  conscience.  With  the  one  saying  : 
"  What  ye  would  that  men  should  do  unto  you,  do 
ye  also  to  them,"  the  Gospel  has  opened  before 
us  infinite  vistas  of  moral  development. 

Before  this  one  saying,  the  cruelties  and  infa 
mous  customs  of  ancient  society,  not  mentioned  by 
the  Apostles,  have  successively  succumbed  ;  before 
this  one  saying,  the  modern  family  has  been 
formed ;  before  this  one  saying,  American  slavery 
will  disappear  as  European  slavery  has  disappeared 
already.  With  this  saying,  we  are  all  advancing, 
we  are  learning,  and  we  shall  continue  to  learn. 
Yes,  the  time  will  come,  I  am  convinced,  when  we 
shall  see  new  duties  rise  up  before  us,  when  we 
cannot  with  a  clear  conscience  maintain  customs, 
what,  I  know  not,  which  we  maintain  conscien 
tiously  to-day. 

This  carries  us  somewhat  further,  it-  must  be 
granted,  than  a  list  of  fixed  duties  ne  varietur  •  it 
opposes  slavery  in  a  different  manner  than  a  sen 
tence  pronounced  once  for  all.  The  Gospel  took 
the  surest  means  of  overthrowing  it  when,  letting 


98  THE    G-OSP.LL    A^S'D    SLAVERY. 

alone  the  reform  of  institutions,  it  contented  itself 
with,  pursuing  that  of  sentiments ;  when  it  tin  s 
prepared  the  time  when  the  slaveholder  himself 
would  be  forced  to  ask  what  is  contained  in  the  in 
exhaustible  saying :  "  What  ye  would  that  me  a 
should  do  unto  you,  do  ye  also  unto  them."  Even 
in  the  heart  of  the  Southern  States,  despite  the 
triple  covering  of  habits,  prejudices,  and  interests, 
this  saying  is  making  its  way,  and  is  disturbing  the 
consciences  of  the  people  much  more  than  is  gen 
erally  believed.  And  the  work  that  it  has  begun 
it  will  finish  ;  it  will  force  the  planters  to  translate 
the  word  SLAVERY,  to  consider  one  by  one  the  aboir  - 
inable  practices  which  constitute  it.  Is  it  to  do  t) 
others  as  we  would  that  they  should  do  to  us,  to  sell 
a  family  at  retail  ?  To  maintain  laws  which  give 
over  every  slave,  whether  wife  or  maiden,  to  her 
owner,  whatever  he  may  be,  and  which  take  away 
from  this  maiden,  from  this  wife,  the  right  of  re 
membering  her  modesty  and  her  duties — what  do 
Christians  call  this?  To  produce  marketable  ne 
groes,  to  dissolve  marriages,  to  ordain  adulteries, 
to  inflict  ignoble  punishment,  to  interdict  instruc 
tion — is  this  doing  to  others  what  we  would  that 
they  should  do  to  us  ? 

The  Christian  sense  of  right  is  relentless,  thank 


THE   GOSPEL,    AND    SLAVERY.  99 

God  ;  it  does  not  suffer  itself  to  be  deceived  by  ap 
pearances  ;  where  we  dispute  about  words,  it  forces 
us  to  go  to  facts.  Xow,  look  at  the  facts  which 
are  really  in  question  in  America,  when  the  great 
subject  of  slavery  is  discussed  there  theoretically. 
Against  the  great  evangelical  system  of  morality, 
the  Judaical  interpretations  of  such  or  such  a  text 
haye  little  chance.  The  epistle  of  Paul,  sending 
back  to  Philemon  his  fugitive  slave  Onesimus,  is 
quoted  to  us.  Assuredly,  the  Apostle  pronounces 
in  it  no  anathema  against  slavery,  nor  does  he 
exact  enfranchisement ;  these  ideas  were  unknown 
to  him  ;  but  he  says  :  "I  beseech  thee  for  my  son 
whom  I  have  begotten  in  my  bonds,  whom  I  have 
sent  again  :  thou  therefore  receive  him,  that  is  my 
own  bowels.  Without  thy  mind  would  I  do  noth 
ing  ;  that  thy  benefit  should  not  be  as  it  were  of 
necessity,  but  willingly.  For  perhaps  he  therefore 
departed  for  a  season,  that  thou  shouldest  receive 
him  forever ;  not  now  as  a  servant,  but  above  a 
servant,  a  brother  beloved.  Having  confidence  in 
thy  obedience  I  wrote  unto  thee,  knowing  that 
thou  wilt  do  also  more  than  I  say." 

Does  any  one  fancy  Philemon  treating  Onesi 
mus,  after  this  epistle,  as  fugitive  slaves  are  treated 
in  America,  putting  up  his  wife  and  children  di- 


100  THE    UOBPEL    AND    SLAVEKY. 

rectly  after  for  sale,  or  delivering  him  over  to  the 
first  slave  merchant  that  was  willing  to  take  chare  e 
of  him,  and  carry  him  a  hundred  leagues  away  ? 
It  is  so  certain  that  Philemon  did  more  than  had 
been  told  him,  that  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossiai  s 
shows  us  the  "faithful  and  well -beloved  brother 
Oriesimus"  honorably  mentioned  among  those  con 
cerned  about  the  spiritual  interests  of  the  church. 

Do  what  one  will,  there  is  an  implied  abolition 
of  slavery  (implied  but  positive)  at  the  bottom  of 
that  close  fraternity  created  by  the  faith  in  the  Sa 
viour.  Between  brethren,  the  relation  of  master 
and  slave,  of  merchant  and  merchandise,  cannot 
long  subsist.  To  sell  on  an  auction-block  or  deliver 
over  to  a  slave-driver  an  immortal  soul,  for  which 
Christ  has  died,  is  an  enormity  before  which  the 
Christian  sense  of  right  will  always  recoil  in  tho 
end.  "  In  this,"  it  is  written,  "  there  is  neither 
Greek  nor  Jew,  nor  circumcision  nor  un circum 
cision,  nor  barbarian  nor  Scythian,  nor  bond  nor 
free,  but  Christ  is  all  and  in  all."  Let  slaveholders 
put  to  themselves  the  question  what  they  would 
say  to-day  if  the  epistle  to  Philemon  were  ad 
dressed  to  them  ;  and  it  is  addressed  to  them ;  the 
Onesimuses  of  the  South — and  such  there  are — arc 
thus  thrown  upon  the  conscience  of  their  masters, 
their  brothers. 


THE    GOSPEL    AND    SLAVERY.  101 

I  have  said  enough  on  the  subject  to  dispense 
with  examining  very  numerous  passages  in  which 
slavery  is  supposed  by  the  writers  of  the  !New  Tes 
tament.  The  duties  of  masters  and  of  slaves  are  laid 
down  by  them  without  doubt,  and  the  existence 
of  the  institution  is  not  contested  for  a  moment ; 
only,  it  is  brought  face  to  face  with  that  which  will 
slay  it :  the  doctrine  of  salvation  through  Christ, 
of  pardon,  of  humility,  of  love,  is,  in  itself,  and  with 
out  the  necessity  of  expressing  it,  the  absolute  nega 
tion  of  slavery. 

It  has  fully  proved  so,  and  the  early  ages  of 
Christianity  leave  no  doubt  as  to  the  interpretation 
given  by  Christians  to  the  teachings  of  the  Apos 
tles.  Despite  the  rapid  corruptions  introduced  into 
the  churches,  we  see  one  brilliant  fact  shining  forth 
in  them :  emancipations  becoming  more  frequent, 
slaves,  as  well  as  free  men,  succeeding  to  ecclesias 
tical  offices,  spiritual  equality  producing  the  fruit 
which  it  cannot  help  producing,  namely,  legal  equal 
ity.  Observe,  too,  how  the  edicts  of  the  emperors 
multiplied  as  soon  as  the  influence  of  Christian 
ity  was  exerted  in  the  Roman  world.  And  all  these 
edicts  had  but  one  aim  :  to  sweeten  servitude,  to  in 
crease  affranchisement  by  law,  to  facilitate  volun 
tary  emancipation. 


102  THE    GOSPEL    A^D    SLAVEKY. 

What  the  Gospel  did  then  against   European. 
slavery,  it  is  doing  now  against  American  slavery. 
Its  end  is  the  same ;  its  weapons  are  the  same ;  they 
have  not  rusted  during  eighteen  centuries.     Those 
planters  of  the  English  islands  were  not  mistakei., 
who,  instinctively  divining  where  lay  their  great 
enemy,  had  recourse  to  every  measure  to  expel  mis 
sionaries  from  among  them.     Neither  were  those 
Texan   executioners   mistaken,   who   lately  put   t:> 
death  the  missionary  Bewley,  a  touching  martyr  t  D 
the  cause  of  the  slaves.     I  ask,  in  the  face  of  tin 
gallows  of  Bewley,  what  we  are  to  think  of  that 
prodigious  paradox  according  to  which  the  Gospel 
is  the  patron  of  slavery.     To  those  who  mistake  it* 
meaning  on  this  point,  the  Gospel  replies  by  its 
acts  ;  it  replies  also  by  the  unanimous  testimony  of 
its  servants.     What  is  more  striking,  in  fact,  than 
to  see  that,  apart  from  the  country  in  which  the 
action  of  interests  and  habits  disturbs  the  judgment 
of  Christians,  there  is  but  one  way  of  comprehend 
ing  and  interpreting  the  Scripture  on  this  point  \ 
Consult    England,    France,    Germany;    Christians 
everywhere  will  tell  you  that  the  Gospel  abolished 
slavery,   although  it  does  not  say   a  single   word 
which  would  proclaim  this  abolition.     Why,  if  the 
doubt  were  possible,  would  not  diversity  of  opinions 


THE   GOSPEL    AND    SLAVERY.  103 

be  also  possible  among  disinterested  judges?  To 
speak  only  of  France,  see  the  synods  of  our  free 
churches,  which  continually  stigmatize  both  Swedish 
intolerance  and  American  slavery ;  see  an  address 
signed  three  years  ago  by  the  pastors  and  the  elders 
of  five  hundred  and  seventy-one  French  churches, 
which  has  gone  to  carry  to  the  United  States  the 
undoubted  testimony  of  a  conviction  which  in  truth 
is  that  of  all. 

It  seems  to  me  that  our  demonstration  is  com 
plete.  What  would  it  be  if  I  should  add  that 
American  slavery,  which  its  friends  so  strangely 
claim  to  place  under  the  protection  of  the  Apostles, 
has  nothing  in  common  with  that  of  which  the 
Apostles  had  cognizance.  The  thing,  however,  is 
certain.  Slavery,  in  the  United  States,  is  founded 
on  color,  it  is  negro  slavery.  Now,  this  is  a  fact 
wholly  new  in  the  history  of  mankind,  a  monstrous 
fact,  which  profoundly  modifies  the  nature  of  sla 
very.  Before  Las  Casas,  that  virtuous  creator  of  the 
slave  trade,  the  name  of  which  comprises  to  him 
alone  a  whole  commentary  on  the  maxim  "  Do  evil 
that  good  may  come,"  before  Las  Casas,  no  one  had 
thought  of  connecting  slavery  with  race.  Now,  the 
slavery  connected  with  race  is  that  of  all  others 
most  difficult  to  uproot,  for  it  bears  an  indelible 


104  THE    GOSPEL    AND    SLAVERY. 

sign  of  inequality,  a  sign  which  the  law  did  net 
create,  and  which  it  cannot  destroy. 

Such  was  not  the  slavery  that  offered  itself  t:> 
the  eyes  of  the  Prophets  and  Apostles ;  a  normel 
servitude,  of  right,  based  upon  -a  native  and  inde 
structible  inferiority  was  not  then  in  question,  but 
an  accidental  servitude  among  equals,  to  which  th  3 
chances  of  war  had  given  birth,  and  which  emanci 
pation  suppressed  entire.  Quite  different  is  tin 
slavery  which  depends  on  race,  and  which,  it  ma;r 
be  said,  supposes  a  malediction  ;  do  what  one  will, 
this  latter  will  subsist,  it  will,  in  a  manner,  survive 
itself;  it  will  find,  besides,  in  the  idea  of  a  provi 
dential  dispensation,  the  natural  excuse  for  its  ex 
cesses.  This  slavery  the  Bible  condemns  in  the 
most  explicit  manner.  If  its  champions  dare  sup 
pose  two  species,  the  book  of  Genesis  shows  them 
all  mankind  springing  from  one  man,  and  the  Gos 
pel  recounts  to  them  the  redemption  wrought  in  be 
half  of  all  the  descendants  of  Adam  ;  if  they  argue 
from  the  curse  pronounced  against  Canaan,  the  Old 
Testament  presents  to  them  the  detailed  enumera 
tion  of  the  Canaanites,  a  vast  family,  in  which  the 
whites  figure  as  well  as  the  blacks. 

In  short,  there  is  a  deadly  struggle  between  the 
Gospel  and  slavery  under  all  its  forms,  and  particu- 


THE    GOSPEL    AND    SLAVERY.  105 

larly  under  the  odious  form  which  the  African  slave 
trade  has  given  it  in  modern  times.  The  Gospel 
has  been,  is,  and  will  be,  at  the  head  of  every  ear 
nest  movement  directed  against  slavery.  It  is  im 
portant  that  it  should  be  so ;  it  is  the  only  means 
of  avoiding  the  acts  of  violence,  the  revolts,  the  ex 
treme  calamities  from  which  the  whites  and  the 
blacks  would  equally  suffer.  The  Gospel  is  admi 
rable,  inasmuch  as  by  the  side  of  the  duties  of  mas 
ters,  it  proclaims  those  of  slaves  ;  as  in  the  time  of 
the  Apostles,  it  does  not  hesitate  to  recommend  to 
them  gentleness,  submission,  scrupulous  fidelity, 
love  for  those  who  maltreat  them,  the  practice  of 
difficult  virtues ;  it  makes  them  free  within,  in  or 
der  to  render  them  capable  of  becoming  free 
without. 

To  judge  of  this  method,  we  have  only  to  com 
pare  the  miserable  population  of  St.  Domingo  with 
the  beautiful  free  villages  which  cover  the  English 
islands.  How  true  the  saying  :  "  The  wrath  of  man 
never  accomplishes  the  justice  of  God ."  Wher 
ever  the  wrath  of  man  has  had  full  sway,  even  to 
chastise  abominable  abuses,  it  has  remained  a  curse. 
I  tremble  when  I  think  of  the  revolts  which  may 
break  out  at  any  moment  in  tlje  Southern  States. 
Bloodshed,  let  us  not  forget,  would  sully  our  ban- 


106  THE    GOSPEL    AJND    SLAVEIiY. 

ner ;  to  the  right  of  the  slaves,  such  a  crisis  would 
be  forever  opposed,  and  who  knows  whether  a  ter 
rible  return  might  not  burst  upon  them? 

The  mind  becomes  troubled  at  the  mere  image 
of  the  horrors  that  would  ensue  from  civil  war. 
May  the  Christians  of  America  comprehend,  at 
length,  in  a  more  perfect  manner,  the  greatness  of 
the  part  that  God  reserves  for  them,  and  the  extent 
of  the  responsibilities  that  are  weighing  upon  them. 
To  take  a  stand  frankly  against  slavery  ;  to  remove 
their  last  pretexts  from  sincere  men  who  seek  to  rec 
oncile  it  with  the  Gospel ;  to  organize  in  the  Korth 
the  action  of  a  vast  moral  power ;  to  address  to  the 
South  words  breathing  forth  truth  and  charity ;  to  ap 
peal  without  wearying  to  the  hearts  of  masters  and 
slaves  ;  to  prepare  for  trying  moments  that  guaran 
tee  which  nothing  can  replace,  the  common  faitli  of 
the  blacks  and  the  whites ;  to  keep  courage  even 
when  all  seems  lost ;  to  practise  the  Christian  voca 
tion,  which  consists  in  pursuing  and  realizing  the 
'impossible  ;  to  show  once  more  to  the  world  the 
power  that  resides  in  justice — this  is  to  accomplish 
a  noble  task. 


THE   PRESENT   CRISIS.  107 


CHAPTEK    VII. 

THE      PRESENT      CRISIS. 

now  possess  the  principal  elements  of  our 
solution ;  we  can  approach  the  problem  just  pro 
pounded  by  the  present  crisis,  and,  confining  our 
selves  no  longer  to  the  appreciation  of  the  past,  can 
glance  at  the  future.  Xot,  indeed,  that  I  make  any 
pretensions  to  prophecy  ;  political  predictions,  sus 
pected  with  reason  in  all  times,  should  be  still  more 
so  at  our  epoch,  which  is  that  of  the  unforeseen. 
But  I  have  a  right  to  prove  that  the  work  which  is 
being  pursued  in  .  America  is,  as  I  have  affirmed,  a 
work  of  elevation,  not  of  destruction.  The  dangers 
which  the  nation  is  advancing  to  meet  are  nothing, 
compared  with  those  towards  which  it  was  lately 
progressing ;  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  the 
secession  of  the  cotton  States  have  introduced  a  new 
position  which  at  last  affords  a  glimpse  of  real 
chances  of  salvation. 


108  TJIK    PBESENT    CRISIS. 

I  have  named  secession  :  what  are  we  to  think 
of  the  principle  on  which  it  rests  ?  For  this  ques 
tion  another  may  be  substituted  :  what  is  a  Con 
federation  ?  If  we  reduce  it,  which  is  inadmissible, 
to  a  simple  league  of  States,  it  still  remains  none 
the  less  binding  on  each  of  them,  so  long  as  the  end 
of  the  league  remains  intact.  Xever  yet  existed 
on  earth,  a  federal  compact  conceived  in  this  wise  : 
"  The  States  which  form  a  part  of  this  league  will 
remain  in  it  only  till  it  pleases  them  to  leave  it." 
Such,  notwithstanding,  is  the  formula  on  which  the 
Southern  theorists  make  a  stand.  Among  the  anar 
chical  doctrines  that  our  age  has  seen  hatched,  (and 
they  are  numerous,)  this  seems  to  me  worthy  of  oc 
cupying  the  place  of  honor.  This  right  of  separa 
tion  is  simply  the  liberum  veto  resuscitated  for  the 
benefit  of  federal  institutions.  As  in  the  horseback 
diets  of  Poland,  a  single  opposing  vote  could  put  a 
stop  to  every  thing,  so  that  it  only  remained  to  vote 
by  sabre-strokes,  so  Confederations,  recognizing  the 
right  of  separation,  would  have  no  other  resort  than 
brute  force,  for  no  great  nation  can  allow  itself  to 
be  killed  without  defending  itself. 

Picture  to  yourselves,  I  intreat  you,  the  progress 
that  political  demoralization  would  make  under 
such  a  system.  As  there  is  never  a  law  or  a  measure 


THE   PRESENT   CRISIS.  109 

that  is  not  displeasing  to  some  one,  it  would  be 
necessary  to  live  in  the  presence  of  the  continually 
repeated  threat :  "If  the  law  passes,  if  the  measure 
is  adopted,  if  the  election  takes  place,  if  you  do  not 
do  all  I  want,  if  you  do  not  yield  to  all  my  caprices, 
I  leave  you,  I  constitute  myself  an  independent 
State,  I  provoke  the  formation  of  a  rival  Confede 
racy."  The  worst  causes  are  the  readiest  to  threaten 
in  this  style ;  having  nothing  reasonable  to  say  in 
their  own  favor,  they  willingly  proceed  to  violence, 
and  the  saying  of  Themistocles  would  find  here 
a  legitimate  application :  "  You  are  angry,  there 
fore,  you  are  wrong." 

What  the  result  of  this  would  be,  we  can  im 
agine.  No  question  would  be  longer  judged  by  its 
own  merits ;  the  despotism  of  bad  men  would  be 
established ;  expedients  would  take  the  place  of  prin 
ciples;  fear  would  put  justice  to  flight;  national 
resolutions  would  be  nothing  more  than  com 
promises  and  bargains.  This,  we  must  admit,  is 
something  like  what  has  been  passing  in  the  United 
States  since  the  South  proclaimed  its  ultra  policy, 
and  placed  its  pretensions  under  the  protection  of 
its  threats.  If  they  had  once  more  bowed  the  head, 
all  would  have  been  lost ;  the  dignity,  the  mental 
liberty  of  America,  would  have  suffered  complete 


110  THE   PRESENT   CRISIS. 

shipwreck  ;  of  all  this  noble  system  of  government, 
there  would  have  remained  standing  but  a  single 
maxim  :  Accord  always  and  everywhere  whatever  is 
necessary  to  prevent  the  separation  of  the  South. 
Unconstitutional  in  all  places,  the  theory  of  sepa 
ration  is  doubly  so  in  the  United  States,  where  the 
federal  system  is  more  concentrated  than  elsewhere. 
It  is  without  doubt  a  federal  system  ;  the  separate 
States  preserve  the  right  in  it  of  regulating  their 
special  legislation,  of  governing  themselves  as  they 
choose,  and  even  of  holding  and  practising  principles 
which  are  profoundly  repugnant  to  other  parts  of 
the  Confederation ;  the  central  power  is,  however, 
endowed  with  an  extended  sphere. 

It  has  its  taxes,  its  officers,  its  army,  its  courts  ; 
it  possesses  in  the  Territory  of  the  different  States 
federal  property  depending  upon  it  alone  ;  in  fine, 
its  general  government  and  general  legislation  ap 
ply  to  the  effective  handling  of  all  the  essential 
interests  of  the  nation.  I  am  not  surprised  that  the 
American  Confederation  is  so  strongly  cemented 
together,  excluding  the  pretended  right  of  separa 
tion  better  than  any  other ;  the  States  that  united 
towards  the  close  of  the  last  century  were  already 
in  the  habit  of  acting  in  concert ;  they  were  of  the 
same  blood,  and  had  lived  under  the  same  rule ; 


THE    PRESENT    CRISIS.  Ill 

their  history,  their  interests,  their  customs,  their 
tongue,  their  religion,  all  contributed  to  bind  them 
closely  to  each  other. 

Besides,  the  question  is  unanimously  resolved  in 
the  United  States.  Apart  from  the  fire-eaters,  not 
a  person  is  found  who  has  the  slightest  doubt  as  to 
the  impossibility  of  modifying,  by  the  violent  deci 
sion  of  a  few,  the  common  Constitution  which  con 
tains  the  enumeration  of  the  States,  and  which  can 
only  be  amended  by  a  solemn  act,  voted  in  the 
special  form  prescribed  by  the  compact.  Mr.  Lin 
coln  merely  expressed  the  general  opinion  when  he 
said  the  other  day  :  "  The  Union  is  a  regular  mar 
riage,  not  a  sort  of  free  relation  which  can  be  main 
tained  only  by  passion."  Secession  is  Revolution 
is  a  political  axiom  which  has  been  current  at  all 
times  in  the  United  States.  It  is  because  they  are 
something  else  than  a  juxtaposition  of  States,  that 
they  comprise,  by  the  side  of  a  Senate  in  which  all 
the  States  are  equal,  a  House  of  Representatives,  in 
which  the  number  of  deputies  is  in  proportion  to 
the  population.  "  Our  Constitution,'-  wrote  Madi 
son,  "  is  neither  a  centralized  State  nor  a  Federal 
Government,  but  a  blending  of  the  two."  The  ex 
perience  which  they  had  had  from  1776  to  1789  had 
taught  the  different  States  the  necessity  of  giving  a 


112  THE    PRESENT    CRISIS. 

more  concentrated  character  to  their  federation. 
Let  us  not  forget  that  they  are  bound  by  oatli  to  re 
main  faithful  to  perpetual  union,  and  that  there  is 
not  a  federal  officer  in  America  who  has  not  sworn 
to  maintain  this  Union. 

I  shall  not  dwell  on  the  fact  that  the  Confedera 
tion  purchased  with  its  money  two  of  the  States 
that  now  pretend  to  secede  from  it ;  that  it  gave 
seventy-five  millions  to  France  for  Louisiana,  and 
twenty-five  millions  to  Spain  for  Florida ;  no,  I 
choose  to  appeal  from  this  to  precedents,  the  author 
ity  of  which  is  not  contested,  and  which  form,  in 
some  sort,  the  interpreting  commentary  o£  the  Con 
stitution.  In  the  last  century,  the  State  of  New 
York,  on  giving  in  its  adhesion  to  the  Constitution, 
desired  to  reserve  to  itself  .this  same  power  of  seced 
ing  some  day  if  it  pleased  ;  but  such  a  reservation 
was  rejected.  At  the  epoch  of  the  war  of  1812  and 
the  embargo  laws,  a  convention  of  the  New  England 
States  assembled  at  Hartford,  and  talked  of  even 
tual  separation,  whereupon  the  Southern  party 
likened  all  separation  without  consent  to  treason, 
and  this  doctrine  was  sustained  by  the  Richmond 
Inquirer,  the  organ  of  Jefferson.  When,  after 
wards,  South  Carolina,  accustomed  to  the  fact, 
dared  proclaim  that  act  of  nullification  which  was 


THE   PRESENT   CRISIS  113 

the  prelude  to  a  complete  renunciation  of  federal 
obligations,  it  was  plainly  signified  to  her  that  a  re 
volt  would  be  suppressed  by  force  of  arms,  and  she 
yielded  on  the  spot.  "When,  the  other  day,  this 
same  South  Carolina  lowered  the  colors  of  the 
United  States,  and  unfurled  the  Palmetto  flag,  Mr. 
Buchanan  himself  proclaimed  (how  could  he  do 
otherwise  ?)  the  flagrant  illegality  of  such  an  act ;  it 
is  true,  that,  after  having  declared  it  illegal,  he  took 
care  to  disavow  all  intention  of  putting  the  law 
in  force. 

And  this  same  conduct  of  Mr.  Buchanan  is  the 
precise  explanation  of  the  prodigious  haste  which 
the  South  Carolinians  have  used  in  their  pro 
ceedings.  They  knew  that  the  President  in  power 
could  not,  if  he  would,  act  with  vigor  against  his 
own  party.  His  inaction  was  assured  ;  there  were 
two  months  of  interregnum,  of  which  it  was  impor 
tant  to  make  the  most ;  so  that  Mr.  Lincoln,  on 
coming  into  office,  might  find  himself  checked,  or 
at  least  harassed,  by  the  power  of  a  deed  accom 
plished. 

It  seems  as  though  Mr.  Buchanan  was  anxious 
himself  to  give  the  signal  of  revolt.  The  message 
that  was  issued  by  him,  after  the  election  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln,  is  really  the  most  extraordinary  document  ever 


THE    PKESENT    CKI8IS. 

written  by  the  head  of  a  great  State ;  he  doubt 
less  declares  in  it  that  a  regular  election  cannot  of 
itself  alone  furnish  sufficient  cause  for  the  violence 
of  the  South  ;  he  takes  care,  however,  to  add  that 
the  South  has  reason  to  complain,  that  reparation 
and  guarantees  are  due  it,  and  that  if  these  are 
refused,  (that  is,  if  the  North  refuses  to  replace  its 
head  under  the  yoke,  and  to  decree  at  once  the  ruin 
and  the  shame  of  America,)  it  will  then  be  time  for 
action. 

The  Carolinians  thought  that  they  might  be  ex 
cused  for  being  a  little  less  prudent  than  the  first 
magistrate  of  the  United  States,  since,  moreover, 
they  saw  their  pretensions  sanctioned  by  him. 
Why  not  attack  the  Confederation  while  it  had  a 
chief  who  was  determined  to  make  as  little  defence 
as  possible  ?  The  weakness  of  Mr.  Buchanan  jus 
tified  the  confidence  of  Carolina.  He  refrained  to 
place  in  the  Federal  fortresses  troops  destined  to 
protect  them  against  an  expected  assault ;  when  a 
brave  man,  Major  Anderson,  took  measures  to  de 
fend  the  post  that  had  been  confided  him,  this  un 
expected  resistance  by  which  the  programme  was 
deranged,  appeared  as  ill-timed  to  Mr.  Buchanan 
as  insolent  to  the  people  of  Charleston ;  and  the 
despatch  of  the  30th  of  December,  addressed  to 


THE   PKESENT   CRISIS.  115 

their  commissioners,  exculpates  him  from  the  crime 
of  having  sent  the  reinforcements,  and  makes  ex 
cuses  in  pitiful  terms  for  the  conduct  of  Major  An 
derson,  whom  they  ought  to  hear  before  condemn 
ing.  In  fact,  Anderson  acted  on  his  own  responsi 
bility,  and  incurred  the  blame  of  the  Minister  of 
War,  who  advised  in  full  council  the  surrender  of 
the  forts. 

The  American  Government  is  as  timid  as  the 
seceded  States  are  resolute.  Our  generation,  which 
has  witnessed  sad  spectacles,  has  never  yet,  per 
haps,  contemplated  any  more  humiliating.  Minis 
ters,  one  of  whom,  hardly  out  of  the  Cabinet,  lias 
gone  to  preside  over  the  secession  convention  at 
Montgomery,  and  another  of  whom  has  taken  care 
to  pave  the  way  in  advance  for  the  revolt  of  the 
South,  and  to  secure  for  it  the  resources  of  money, 
arms,  and  munitions,  which  it  was  about  to  need  ; 
ministers  who  vote  openly  for  the  insurgents, 
whose  financial  intrigues  have  been  proved  by  in 
vestigation,  and  whose  electoral  manoeuvres,  dupli 
cated  by  embezzlement  of  public  money,  have 
ended  in  a  sort  of  political  treason,  disavowed  only 
by  General  Cass  ;  a  Cabinet,  in  the  last  extremity, 
still  essaying  to  continue  its  former  course  by  kill 
ing  with  its  veto  the  bill  adopted  by  the  Legislature 


116  THE    PRESENT    CRISIS. 

of  Nebraska  to  prohibit  slavery  in  its  Territory  ;  a 
Government  falling  apart  by  piecemeal,  for  fear  of 
compromising  itself  by  resisting  some  part  of  the 
South  :  do  you  know  of  any  thing  so  shameful  ? 
Mr.  Buchanan  will  end  as  he  began  :  for  four  years, 
he  has  been  struggling  to  obtain  an  extension 
of  slavery  ;  for  a  month,  he  has  been  favoring  the 
plans  of  separation,  by  opposing  his  force  of  inertia 
to  the  growing  indignation  of  the  North. 

Being  unable  to  prevent  every  thing,  he  does  at 
least  what  he  can  :  forced  to  send  some  reinforce 
ments,  he  speedily  withdraws  them  in  a  manner 
seemingly  designed  to  render  easy  the  attack  on  Fort 
Sumter  and  to  discourage  Major  Anderson.  In 
the  hands  of  a  President  who  understood  his  duties, 
things  would  have  gone  on  very  differently.  In 
the  first  place,  the  South  would  have  known  on 
what  to  rely,  and  would  have  been  reminded  of  the 
message  of  General  Jackson  in  1833,  exacting  the 
immediate  disbanding  of  its  troops  ;  next,  prelimi 
nary  measures  of  precaution  would  not  have  been 
systematically  neglected  ;  lastly,  at  the  first  symp 
tom  of  revolt,  a  sufficient  number  of  ships  of  war 
would  have  been  sent  to  Charleston  to  insure  the 
regular  collection  of  taxes  and  respect  for  the  .Fed 
eral  property.  Nothing  is  so  pacific  as  resolution  : 


THE   PRESENT    CKISIS.  117 

face  to  face  with  a  strong  Government,  we  look  twice 
before  launching  into  adventures ;  but,  with  Mr. 
Buchanan,  it  was  almost  impossible  for  the  cotton 
States  to  refrain  from  precipitating  themselves 
headlong  into  them.  The  repression  that  will 
come  by  and  by  will  not  repair  the  evil  that  has 
been  done.  Explanations  will  also  follow  too  late  ; 
it  was  for  the  President  to  reply  on  the  spot,  and 
categorically,  to  the  manifestos  issued  by  the  South. 
To  let  the  violent  States  know  that  their  unconsti 
tutional  plans  would  meet  a  prompt  chastisement ; 
to  let  the  neighboring  States  know  that  their  sov 
ereignty  was  by  no  means  menaced,  and  that  they 
would  continue  to  regulate  their  internal  institu 
tions  as  they  pleased  ;  to-  say  to  all  that  the  discus 
sion  of  plans  of  abolition  was  not  in  question ;  to 
say  too  to  all  that  the  majorities  of  free-soilers 
would  be  protected  in  the  Territories,  and  that  the 
conquests  of  slavery  were  ended :  what  language 
would  have  been  better  fitted  than  this  to  isolate 
the  Gulf  States — perhaps  to  check  them  ? 

I  say  perhaps,  because  I  know  that  passions 
had  reached  such  a  pitch  of  exasperation  that  a 
rupture  seemed  inevitable.  In  South  Carolina,  for 
example,  the  Governor  had  recommended  both 
Houses  in  advance  to  take  measures  for  seceding  if 


118  THE    PRESENT    CRISIS. 

Mr.  Lincoln  should  be  elected ;  a  special  commis 
sion  was  nominated,  and  held  permanent  session, 
In  Texas,  Senator  Wigfall  did  not  fear  to  say,  in 
supporting  Mr.  Breckenridge  :  u  If  any  other  can 
didate  is  elected,  look  for  stormy  weather.  Thero 
may  be  a  Confederation,  indeed,  but  it  will  not 
number  more  than  thirty-three  States."  Mr.  Jef 
ferson  Davis,  of  Mississippi,  and  Mr.  Benjamin,  o:' 
Louisiana,  held  no  less  explicit  language,  announ 
cing  that  at  the  first  electoral  defeat  of  the  Soutl , 
it  would  set  about  forming  a  separate  Confeden  - 
tion,  long  since  demanded  by  its  true  interests. 

What  the  South  called  its  "  interests,"  what  it 
ended  by  adopting  as  a  political  platform,  outside 
of  which  there  was  no  safety,  was,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  subjugation  of  majorities  in  the  Territories,  the 
restriction  of  sovereignty  in  the  Northern  State?, 
the  reform  of  the  liberty  bills,  which  refused  tho 
prisons  of  these  States  and  the  co-operation  of  their 
officers,  to  the  Federal  agents  charged  with  arrest 
ing  fugitive  slaves,  the  power  of  transporting  sla\  - 
ery  over  the  whole  Confederation,  the  duty  of  ex 
tending  indefinitely  the  domain  of  slavery.  Who 
paid  Walker?  Who  continually  recruited  bands 
of  adventurers  to  launch  on  Cuba  or  Central  Amer 
ica  ?  Who  prepared  the  well-known  lists  of  slave 


THE    PRESENT    CRISIS.  119 

States  with  which  the  South  counted  on  enriching 
itself :  four  States  some  day  to  be  carved  out  of 
Texas,  (the  South  had  caused  this  to  be  authorized 
in  advance,)  three  States  to  be  created  in  the  Island 
of  Cuba,  an  indefinite  number  of  States  to  be  de 
tached  one  after  another  from  Central  America  and 
Mexico  ?  Who  clamorously  demanded  the  reestab- 
lishment  of  the  African  slave  trade,  alone  capable 
of  peopling  this  vast  extent,  and  of  lowering  the 
excessive  price  of  the  negroes  'supplied  by  the  pro 
ducing  States  ?  The  extreme  South,  which  alone 
was  concerned  in  this,  saw  gigantic  vistas  opening 
before  it  on  which  it  fastened  with  ecstasy.  ]STow, 
already,  in  spite  of  the  more  or  less  avowed  support 
of  Mr.  Buchanan,  its  sriccess  was  already  checked, 
it  felt  itself  provoked  and  thwarted.  Henceforth, 
all  its  hopes  were  concentrated  on  the  election  of 
1860  :  we  may  judge,  therefore,  of  its  disappoint 
ment,  and  of  the  furious  ardor  with  which  it  must 
have  seized  upon  its  last  resource,  namely,  seces 
sion,  which  might  prove  in  its  hands  either  a 
means  of  terrifying  the  Xorth,  and  of  bringing  it 
again  under  the  yoke,  or  of  entering  alone  into  a 
new  destiny,  of  having  elbow-room,  and  of  devoting 
itself  entirely  to  the  propagation  of  slavery  ! 

The  facts  are  known  ;  I  do  not  think  of  recount- 


llM)  THE    PRESENT    CKIblS. 

ing  them.  I  content  myself  with  remarking  tl  e 
enthusiasm  which  prevails  in  the  majority  of  tl  e 
cotton  States.  One  could  not  commit  suicide  with 
a  better  grace.  It  is  easy  to  recognize  a  countiy 
hermetically  sealed  to  contradiction,  which  is  en 
chanted  with  itself,  and  which  ends  by  accomplish 
ing  the  most  horrible  deeds  with  a  sort  of  conscien 
tious  rejoicing.  The  enthusiasm  which  is  display  (d 
in  proclaiming  secession,  or  in  firing  on  the  Ameri 
can  flag,  is  displayed  in  freeing  the  captain  of  a 
slaver,  a  noble  martyr  to  the  popular  cause.  The  *e 
is  something  terrifying  in  the  enthusiasm  of  e'sil 
passions.  When  I  consider  the  folly  of  the  South, 
which  so  heedlessly  touches  the  match  to  the  first 
cannon  pointed  against  its  confederates  ;  when  I  see 
it  without  hesitation  give  the  signal  for  a  war  in 
which  it  runs  the  risk  of  perishing;  when  I  read 
its  laws,  decreeing  the  penalty  of  death  against  any 
one  who  shall  attack  the  Palmetto  State,  and  its 
dispatches,  in  which  the  removal  of  Major  Ander 
son  is  exacted,  in  the  tone  which  a  master  employs 
toward  a  disobedient  servant,  I  ask  myself  whether 
the  present  crisis  could  really  have  been  evaded, 
and  whether  any  thing  less  than  a  rude  lesson  con  Id 
have  opened  eyes  so  obstinately  closed  to  the  light. 
People  have  taken  in  earnest  the  plans  of  tiie 


THE   PRESENT   CRISIS.  121 

Southern  Confederacy.  Nothing  could  be  more 
imposing,  in  fact,  if  they  had  the  least  chance  of 
success.  The  fifteen  Southern  States,  already  im 
mense,  joined  to  Mexico,  Cuba,  and  Central  Amer 
ica — what  a  power  this  would  be !  And,  doubt 
less,  this  power  would  not  stop  at  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama :  it  would  be  no  more  difficult  to  reestab 
lish  slavery  in  Bolivia,  on  the  Equator,  and  in 
Peru,  than  in  Mexico.  Thus  the  "  patriarchal  in 
stitution"  would  advance  to  rejoin  Brazil,  and  the 
dismayed  eye  would  not  find  a  single  free  spot  upon 
which  to  rest  bet  ween  Delaware  Bay  and  the  banks  of 
the  Uruguay.  Furthermore,  this  colossal  negro  jail 
would  be  stocked  by  a  no  less  colossal  slave  trade  : 
barracoons  would  be  refilled  in  Africa,  slave  expe 
ditions  would  be  organized  on  a  scale  hitherto  un 
known,  and  whole  squadrons  of  slave  ships  (those 
"  floating  hells")  would  transport  their  cargoes 
under  the  Southern  colors,  proudly  unfurled ;  pa 
triotic  indignation  would  be  aroused  at  the  mere 
name  of  the  right  of  search,  and  the  whole  world 
would  be  challenged  to  defend  the  liberty  of  the 
seas. 

Such  is  the  project  in  its  majestic  unity.     Such 
is  the  glorious  ideal  which  the  extreme  South  hoped 
to  attain  by  its  union  with  the  North,  and  which  it 
6 


122  THE   PRESENT   CRISIS. 

now  seeks  to  attain  by  its  separation.  The  hearts 
of  men  beat  high  at  the  thought,  and  many  ;ire 
ready  to  give  their  lives  heroically  in  order  to  se 
cure  its  realization.  Alas  !  we  are  thus  made  ;  pas 
sion  excuses  every  thing,  transfigures  every  tiling. 

Each  one  feels  instinctively,  moreover,  that  no 
part  of  the  plan  can  be  separated  from  the  who  e  ; 
that  it  must  be  great  to  be  respected  ;  that  to  people 
this  vast  extent  with  slaves,  the  African  slave  trr  do 
is  indispensable ;  of  course,  they  took  care  not  to 
avow  all  this  at  the  first  moment ;  it  was  necessa  :y, 
in  the  beginning,  to  delude  others,  and  perlups 
themselves  ;  it  was  necessary  to  obtain  recognition. 
On  this  account,  the  prudent  politicians  who  have 
just  drawn  up  the  programme  of  the  South,  have 
been  careful  to  record  in  it  the  prohibition  of  the 
African  slave  trade,  and  the  disavowal  of  plans  of 
conquest.  But  this  does  not  prevent  the  necessities 
of  the  position  from  becoming  known  by  and  by. 
True  programmes,  adapted  to  the  position  of  affairs, 
are  not  changed  from  day  to  day.  I  defy  the  slave 
States,  provided  their  Confederation  succeeds  in 
existing,  to  do  otherwise  than  seek  to  extend 
towards  the  South  ;  hemmed  in  on  all  sides  by 
liberty,  incessantly  provoked  by  the  impossibility 
of  preventing  the  flight  of  their  negroes,  they  will 


THE    PRESENT   CRISIS.  123 

fall  on  those  of  their  neighbors  who  are  the  least 
capable  of  resistance,  and  whose  territory  is  most  to 
their  convenience.  This  fact  is  obvious,  as  it  is  also 
obvious  that  they  will  have  recourse  to  the  African 
slave  trade  to  people  these  new  possessions.  It  is 
in  vain  to  deny  it,  on  account  of  Europe,  or  of  the 
border  States ;  the  necessities  will  subsist,  and, 
sooner  or  later,  they  will  be  obeyed.  If  the  border 
States  persist  in  deluding  themselves  on  this  point, 
and  fancy  that  they  will  always  keep  the  monopoly 
of  this  infamous  supply  of  negroes  sold  at  enormous 
prices,  this  concerns  them.  In  any  case,  the  illusion 
will  finally  become  dispelled.  It  is  not  in  the  nomi 
nation  of  Jefferson  Davis  as  President  of  the  Con 
federate  States,  that  we  are  to  look  for  the  final  re 
pudiation  of  those  projects  of  which  this  politic  man 
is  in  some  sort  the  living  representative. 

And  when  they  are  renewed,  we  shall  see  an  in' 
vincible  obstacle  rise  up  in  the  way  of  the  realiza 
tion  of  a  plan  so  monstrous.  As  soon  as  the  African 
slave  trade  is  established,  the  domestic  slave  trade 
will  cease,  the  revenues  of  the  producing  States  will 
be  suppressed,  the  price  of  negroes  will  fall  every 
where,  and  the  fortunes  of  all  the  planters  will  fall 
in  like  proportion.  Can  it  be  possible  that  they  will 
accept  the  chances  of  civil  war,  of  insurrections, 


124  THE    PRESENT   CRISIS. 

and  of  massacres,  in  order  to  ensure  to  themselves 
the  risk  of  ruin  in  case  of  success  ?  Can  it  be  possi 
ble,  above  all,  that  Europe  will  lend  a  hand,  as  we 
seem  to  imagine,  to  the  most  audacious  attack  ever 
directed  against  Christian  civilization  ? 

I  know  that  we  must  always  make  allowance 
for  probable  perfidy,  and  I  am  far  from  dreaming, 
as  times  go,  that  chivalric  Europe  will  refuse  to 
serve  her  own  interests  because  these  interests  would 
cost  her  principles  something.  No,  indeed,  I  in  ag- 
ine  nothing  of  the  sort ;  yet  I  think  that  I  should 
wrong  the  nineteenth  century  if  I  supposed  it  capa 
ble  of  certain  things.  There  are  sentiments  which, 
cannot  be  provoked  beyond  measure  with  impunity. 

Remember  the  shudder  that  ran  through  the 
world  when  Texas,  a  free  country,  was  transformed 
into  slave  territory  as  the  result  of  the  victory  of 
the  United  States  ;  multiply  the  crime  of  Texas  by 
ten,  by  twenty,  and  you  will  have  a  faint  imago  of 
the  impression  of  disgust  that  the  Southern  republic 
is  about  to  call  forth  among  us. 

It  is  important  that  they  should  know  this  in  ad 
vance  at  Charleston,  and  not  delude  themselves  as 
to  the  kind  of  welcome  for  which  the  Palmetto  State 
and  its  accomplices  have  to  hope.  Not  only  will 
no  one  recognize  their  pretended  independence  at 


THE   PRESENT   CRISIS.  125 

this  time,  for  to  recognize  it  would  be  to  tread  un 
der  foot  the  evident  rights  of  the  United  States,  but 
they  will  excite  one  of  those  moral  repulsions  which 
the  least  scrupulous  policy  is  forced  to  take  into  ac 
count.  It  is  one  thing  to  hold  slaves  ;  it  is  another 
to  be  founded  expressly  to  serve  the  cause  of  sla 
very  on  earth  ;  this  is  a  new  fact  in  the  history  of 
mankind.  If  a  Southern  Confederacy  should  ever 
take  rank  among  nations,  it  will  represent  slavery, 
and  nothing  else.  I  am  wrong  ;  it  will  also  repre 
sent  the  African  slave  trade,  and  the  filibustering 
system.  In  any  case,  the  Southern  Confederacy  will 
be  so  far  identified  with  slavery,  with  its  progress, 
with  the  measures  designed  to  propagate  and  per 
petuate  it  here  below,  that  a  chain  and  whip  seem 
the  only  devices  to  be  embroidered  on  its  flag. 

Will  thisflag  cover  the  human  merchandise  which 
it  is  designed  to  protect  against  the  interference  of 
cruisers  ?  "Will  there  be  a  country,  will  there  be  a 
heart,  forgetful  enough  of  its  dignity  to  tolerate  this 
insolent  challenge  flung  at  our  best  sympathies  ? 
I  doubt  it,  and  I  counsel  the  Carolinians  to  doubt  it 
also.  The  representative  of  England  at  Washington 
is  said  to  have  already  declared  that  in  presence  of 
the  slave  trade  thus  practised,  his  government  will 
not  hesitate  to  pursue  slavers  into  the  very  ports  of 


126  THE   PRESENT    CRISIS. 

the  South.  France  will  hold  no  less  firm  a  tone ; 
whatever  may  be  the  dissent  as  to  the  right  of  searcl  i, 
the  right  of  slave  ships,  be  sure,  will  be  admittei 
by  none  ;  a  sea-police  will  soon  be  found  to  put  ai 
end  to  them  ;  if  need  be,  the  punishment  will  be  ir - 
flicted  on  their  crews  that  is  in  store  for  a  much  le&s 
crime,  that  of  piracy  ;  these  wretches  will  be  hun*' 
with  short  shrift  at  the  yard-arm,  without  form  or 
figure  of  law. 

The  Carolinians  deceive  themselves  strangely. 
They  fancy  that  they  will  be  treated  with  considera 
tion,  that  they  will  even  be  protected,  because  they 
maintain  the  principle  of  free  trade,  and  because 
they  hold  the  great  cotton  market.  Free  trade, 
cotton,  these  are  the  two  recommendations  upon 
which  they  count  to  gain  a  welcome  in  Europe. 
Let  us  see  what  we  are  to  think  of  this. 

I  shall  not  be  suspected  in  what  I  am  about  to 
say  of  free  trade — I,  who  have  always  been  its  de 
clared  partisan  ;  I,  who  sustained  it  twenty  years 
ago  as  candidate  in  the  bosom  of  one  of  the  electoral 
colleges  of  Paris,  and  who  applauded  unreservedly 
our  recent  commercial  treaty  with  England  ;  but 
man  does  not  live  by  bread  alone,  and  if  ever  a 
school  of  commercial  liberty  should  anywhere  be 
found  that  should  carry  the  adoration  of  its  prin- 


THE   PRESENT   CRISIS.  127 

ciple  so  far  as  to  sacrifice  to  it  other  and  nobler 
liberties,  a  school  disposed  to  set  the  question  of 
cheapness  above  that  of  justice,  and  to  extend  a 
hand  to  whoever  should  offer  it  a  channel  of  expor 
tation,  maledictions  enough  would  not  be  found  for 
it.  Let  England  take  care ;  those  who  have  no 
love  for  her,  take  delight  in  foretelling  that  her 
sympathies  will  be  weighed  in  the  balance  with 
her  interests,  and  that  the  protection  of  the  Xorth 
risks  offending  her  much  more  than  the  slavery  of 
the  South.  I  am  convinced  that  it  will  amount  to 
nothing,  and  that  we  shall  once  more  see  how  great 
is  the  influence  of  Christian  sentiment  among 
Englishmen.  Should  the  reverse  be  true,  we  must 
veil  our  faces,  and  give  over  this  vile  bargaining, 
adorned  with  the  name  of  free  trade,  to  the  full  se 
verity  of  public  opinion. 

I  repeat  that  it  will  amount  to  nothing.  More 
over,  do  not  let  us  exaggerate  either  the  protective 
instincts  of  the  Korth  or  the  free  trade  of  the  South. 
The  new  tariff  just  adopted  at  "Washington  (a  grave 
error,  assuredly,  which  I  do  not  seek  to  palliate) 
may  be  amended  in  such  a  manner  as  to  lose  the 
character  of  prohibition  with  which  certain  States 
have  sought  to  invest  it.  Let  us  not  forget,  that  by 
the  side  of  Pennsylvania,  which  urges  the  excessive 


128  THE    PRESENT    CRISIS. 

increase  of  taxes,  the  North  counts  a  considerable 
number  of  agricultural  States,  the  interests  of  which 
are  very  different.  ]STow,  these  are  the  States  which 
elected  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  which  will  henceforth 
have  the  most  decisive  weight  on  the  destinies  of 
the  Union.  "We  may  be  tranquil,  the  protective 
reaction  which  has  just  triumphed  in  part  will  no: 
long  be  victorious.  All  liberties  cling  together  : 
the  liberty  of  commerce  will  have  its  day  in  tho 
United  States. 

But  if  all  liberties  cling  together,  all  slaveries 
cling  together  also,  and  cannot  be  liberal  at  will,  ever. 
in  commercial  matters.  The  Southern  States  plume 
themselves  on  being  thus  liberal,  and  it  is  sought  to 
give  them  this  reputation.  However,  the  facts  are 
little  in  harmony  with  their  brilliant  programme. 
Far  from  proclaiming  free  trade,  the  "  Confederate" 
States,  by  a  formal  act  adopted  on  the  18th  of  Feb 
ruary,  have  maintained  the  tariff  of  1857.  They 
have  gone  further :  their  Congress  has  just  estab 
lished  a  new  and  relatively  heavy  tax,  which  must 
burden  the  exportation  of  cotton.  This  is  not  com 
mercial  liberty  as  I  understand  it.  • 

Notwithstanding,  the  watchword  has  been  given, 
the  champions  of  slavery  have  skilfully  organized 
their  system  of  manoeuvre  in  Europe,  and  it  is  de- 


THE    PRESENT    CKISIS.  129 

veloping  according  to  their  wishes.  To  be  indig 
nant  at  the  new  tariff,  to  speak  only  of  the  new 
tariff,  to  create  by  means  of  the  new  tariff  a  sort 
of  popularity  for  the  Southern  republic — such  is 
the  end  which  they  sought  to  attain.  I  doubt 
whether  they  have  fully  obtained  it,  although  the 
South,  I  say  it  to  our  shame,  has  already  succeeded 
in  procuring  friends  and  praisers  among  us.  The 
factitious  indignation  will  fall  without  doubt ;  but 
cotton  remains :  at  the  bottom,  the  South  counts 
much  more  upon  cotton  than  free  trade  to  bring 
the  Old  World  into  her  interests.  On  rushing  into 
a  mad  enterprise,  all  the  perils  of  which,  enraged 
as  it  was,  it  could  not  disguise,  it  said  to  itself  that 
its  cotton  would  protect  it.  Is  it  not  the  principal 
and  almost  the  only  producer  of  a  raw  material, 
without  which  the  manufactures  of  the  whole 
world  would  stand  still  ?  Are  there  not  millions  of 
workmen  in  England  (one-sixth  of  the  whole  popu 
lation  !)  who  live  by  the  manufacture  of  cotton  ? 
Is  not  the  wealth  of  Great  Britain  founded  on  cot 
ton,  which  alone  furnishes  four-fifths  of  its  exported 
manufactures  ?  All  this  is  true,  and  they  are  not 
ignorant  of  it  at  Manchester.  Notwithstanding, 
what  happened  there  the  other  day  ?  An  immense 
meeting  was  convoked  for  the  purpose  of  carefully 
6* 


130  THE      PKESENT   CRISIS. 

examining  the  great  cotton  business,  and  the  perils 
created  by  the  present  crisis.  I  do  not  know  that 
among  these  manufacturers,  knowing  that  their  in 
terests  were  menaced,  that  among  these  workmen, 
knowing  that  their  means  of  livelihood  were  at 
stake,  that  from  the  heart  of  this  country,  knowing 
that  want,  famine,  and  insurrections  might  come  to 
her  door,  there  arose  a  voice,  a  single  one,  to  ad 
dress  a  word  of  sympathy  to  the  Southern  States, 
and  to  promise  them  the  slightest  support.  It  was 
because  there  was  something  transcending  manufac 
turing  supplies,  and  even  the  bread  of  families  :  the 
need,  I  am  glad  to  state,  of  protesting  against  cer 
tain  crimes.  Instead  of  extending  a  hand  to  the 
secessionists  of  Charleston,  the  English  manufac 
turers  resolutely  laid  the  foundation  of  a  vast  so 
ciety,  destined  to  develop  on  the  spot  the  produc 
tion  of  cotton  by  free  labor  in  India,  the  Antilles, 
and  Africa.  Such  was  their  answer ;  and  if  you 
knew  their  most  secret  thoughts,  you  would  have 
no  difficulty  in  discovering  that  the  ambition  of 
the  South,  its  turbulent  policy,  and  its  aggressions 
without  pretext,  are  far  from  exciting  the  gratitude 
of  English  commerce,  or  of  inspiring  its  confidence. 
Every  one  in  England  comprehends  that,  from 
the  standpoint  of  interest,  the  separation  of  the 


THE   PEESENT   CRISIS.  131 

South  is  a  mortal  blow  dealt  to  the  cotton  produc 
tion,  which  will  henceforth  have  the  aid  neither  of 
credit  nor  entrepots,  and  which  is  advancing  tow 
ards  catastrophes  which  niay  involve  a  conflict  of 
arms.  From  another  and  higher  standpoint,  the 
public  opinion  of  England  has  not  made  us  wait  for 
its  verdict :  already  its  abolition  societies  have  re 
gained  life  and  begun  their  movements ;  already, 
under  the  pressure  of  the  universal  feeling,  the 
Court  of  Queen's  Bench  has  revised  the  affair  of 
the  negro  Anderson,  to  deliver  into  the  strong 
hands  of  the  metropolis  a  question  before  which 
the  judicial  authority  of  Canada  hesitated,  and  to 
pronounce  at  length  a  verdict  of  acquittal. 

The  South  has  taken  account  in  its  calculations 
neither  of  man  nor  God.  God  especially  seems  to 
have  been  forgotten,  though  it  placed  itself  for 
mally  under  his  protection.  ^Who  does  not  shudder 
at  the  enunciation  of  these  unheard-of  plans  :  we 
will  do  this,  then  we  will  do  that ;  we  will  hold 
England  through  cotton,  we  will  entice  France 
through  influence — we  will  have  many  negroes, 
much  produce,  and  much  money  !  And  what  will 
God  think  of  it  ?  Everywhere  else  but  in  South 
Carolina,  this  question  would  appear  formidable 
beyond  expression. 


132  THE   PRESENT   CRISIS. 

If  the  South  has  taken  its  wishes  for  realities  in 
Europe,  it  has  committed  the  same  error  in  Amer 
ica.  Its  secession  has  some  chance  (and  what  a 
chance  !)  only  on  condition  of  drawing  in  all  the 
slave  States  without  exception  ;  now  it  seems  hy 
no  means  probable  that  such  a  unanimity,  sup 
posing  it  to  be  gained  by  surprise,  could  ever  be 
maintained  successfully.  The  negro-raising  States 
could  not  possibly  regard  the  future  in  the  same 
light  as  the  consuming  States.  Their  revenues  are 
based  on  the  value  of  the  domestic  slave  trade,  which 
bears  no  resemblance  to  that  of  the  African  slave 
trade.  Ask  Virginia  or  Maryland  long  to  sustain  a 
policy,  the  result  of  which  would  be  to  lower  the 
price  of  her  slaves  in  one  day  from  a  thousand  dol 
lars  to  two  cents  !  This  is  so  clearly  felt  in  the 
extreme  South,  that  the  provisional  constitution, 
adopted  at  Montgomery,  is  drawn  up  with  an  ex 
press  view  to  reassuring  the  producing  States  on 
this  point.  They  are  afraid  of  the  African  slave 
trade  !  It  shall  not  be  reopened.  They  are  anxious 
to  sell  their  negroes  !  They  shall  be  bought  only 
of  those  States  forming  part  of  the  Southern  Con 
federacy.  It  belongs  to  them  to  ask  now  whether 
this  Montgomery  constitution,  adopted  for  a  year, 
really  guarantees  any  thing  to  them,  and  whether 


THE   PRESENT   CRISIS.  133 

it  is  possible  that  an  attempt  will  not  be  made  to 
revive  the  African  slave  trade,  provided  the  South 
ern  Confederacy  succeeds  in  enduring.  However 
this  may  be,  they  are  held  apart  by  so  many  causes, 
that  they  would  only  unite  to-day  to  separate  to 
morrow.  I  know  well  that  the  passions  of  slavery 
rule  in  many  of  the  border  States,  especially  in 
Virginia,  as  violently  as  in  the  extreme  South.  I 
do  not  disguise  from  myself  that  the  habit  of  sus 
taining  a  deplorable  cause  in  common  has  created 
between  the  border  and  the  cotton  States  a  bond 
of  long  standing  and  difficult  to  break.  But  I  say 
this  :  the  impulses  of  the  first  hour  will  have  their 
morrow ;  when  the  frontier  States  witness  the 
commencement  of  those  territorial  invasions  which 
must  necessarily  bring  the  African  slave  trade  in 
their  train  ;  when  they  know  what  reliance  to  place 
on  the  fine  promises  made  to-day  to  attract  them  ; 
when  they  perceive  that  in  separating  from  the 
Xorth,  they  themselves  have  removed  the  sole  ob 
stacle  in  the  way  of  the  flight  of  all  their  slaves  ; 
when,  in  fine,  they  feel  weighing  upon  them,  and 
them  first,  the  perils  of  an  armed  struggle  and  a 
negro  insurrection,  they  will  listen  perhaps  to  those 
of  their  citizens  who,  even  now,  are  urging  them  to 
turn  to  the  side  of  justice — of  justice  and  of  safety. 


134  THE    PRESENT    CRISIS. 

By  the  fewness  of  their  slaves,  by  the  nature  of 
their  climate,  which  resembles  that  of  Marseilles 
and  Montpellier,  by  the  kind  of  cultivation  to  which 
their  country  is  adapted,  by  the  number  of  manu 
factures  which  are  beginning  to  be  established 
among  them,  it  seems  as  if  they  must  be  led,  or,  a ", 
least,  some  day  led  back,  to  the  policy  of  union. 
This  is  no  discovery :  the  seceded  States  know  ii; 
already  ;  they  form  a  separate  band.  America  has. 
not  forgotten  the  retreat  of  the  seven,  which,  a  few 
months  ago,  dismembered  the  Democratic  Conven 
tion  assembled  at  Charleston.  These  seven  were 
South  Carolina,  Florida,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Ar 
kansas,  Texas,  and  Louisiana ;  in  other  words,  all 
those  States  which  were  the  first  to  vote  for  seces 
sion.  The  same  list,  with  the  addition  of  Georgia 
and  North  Carolina,  appeared  again  on  the  day  of 
the  Presidential  election  :  these  nine  States  alone 
adopted  Mr.  Breckenridge  as  their  candidate. 

Here,  then,  is  a  profound  distinction,  which  at 
taches  to  interests  and  tendencies,  which  has  mani 
fested  itself  already,  which  will  manifest  itself  more 
and  more,  and  which  will  work,  sooner  or  later,  the 
salvation  of  the  United  States.  The  border  States 
cannot  unite  with  the  cotton  States  definitively. 
They  gave  proofs  of  this  in  the  last  election.  Five 


THE   PRESENT   CEISIS.  135 

among  them,  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Delaware,  Vir 
ginia,  and  Maryland,  at  that  time  took  an  interme 
diate  position  by  making  an  intermediate  choice : 
Mr.  Bell.  Without  going  so  far,. Missouri  protested 
at  least  against  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Breckenridge 
by  casting  its  vote  for  Mr.  Douglas.  Better  than 
this,  a  declared  adversary  of  slavery,  Mr.  Blair, 
was  elected  representative  by  this  same  slave  State, 
Missouri,  on  the  day  before  the  balloting  for  the 
presidency  ;  and  on  the  next  day  his  friends  voted 
openly  for  Mr.  Lincoln,  while  no  one  dared  annul 
their  votes,  as  had  been  done  four  years  before. 
Mr.  Lincoln  thus  obtained  fifteen  thousand  votes 
in  Missouri,  four  thousand  in  Delaware,  fifteen  hun 
dred  in  Maryland,  a  thousand  in  Kentucky,  and  as 
many  in  Virginia.  The  figures  are  nothing ;  the 
symptom  is  significant.  The  slave  States  of  this  in 
termediate  region  contain  in  their  bosom,  therefore, 
men  who  do  not  fear  to  attack  the  "  patriarchal  in 
stitution."  Have  we  not  just  seen  a  Republican 
committee  acting  at  Baltimore,  in  the  midst  of  Ma 
ryland  ?  Has  not  this  same  Maryland  just  rejected, 
by  the  popular  vote,  the  infamous  law  which  its 
legislature  had  adopted,  and  by  virtue  of  which  free 
negroes  who  should  not  quit  the  State  would  be 
reduced  by  right  to  slavery  ?  When  I  remember 


136  THE    PRESENT   CRISIS. 

these  facts,  so  important  and  so  recent,  I  compre 
hend  how  it  is  that  a  Kentuckian  holds  the  South 
at  bay  behind  the  menaced  walls  of  Fort  Sum- 
ter,  and  how  the  cabinet  of  Mr.  Lincoln  lias  minis 
ters  in  its  midst,  who  belong  to  the  border  States. 

People  take  the  peculiar  situation  of  the  border 
States  too  little  into  account  in  looking  into  the  fu 
ture  which  is  preparing  for  America.  They  persist 
in  presenting  to  us  two  great  confederacies,  and,  in 
some  sort,  two  United  States,  called  to  divide  the 
continent.  If  any  thing  like  this  could  occur,  it 
could  not  endure.  Doubtless,  there  are  hours  of 
vertigo  from  which  we  may  look  for  every  thing, 
even  the  impossible ;  and,  who  knows  ?  perhaps  the 
impossible  most  of  all ;  nevertheless,  the  border 
States  cannot  attach  themselves  forever  to  a  cause 
which  is  not  their  own.  By  the  side  of  the  mani 
festations  which  have  taken  place  in  Virginia  and 
South  Carolina,  we  have  already  a  right  to  cite 
demonstrations  of  a  different  kind.  Has  not  Missouri 
just  decided  prudently,  that,  in  the  matter  of  sepa 
ration,  the  decisions  of  her  legislature  shall  not  be 
valid  until  ratified  by  the  whole  people  ?  This  little 
resembles  the  eagerness  with  which  States  else 
where  rush  into  secession.  It  is  therefore  probable 
that  the  United  States  will  keep  or  soon  bring  back 


THE    PRESENT   CRISIS.  13  T 

into  their  bosom  a  considerable  number  of  the  bor 
der  States.  By  their  side,  the  gulf  States  will  at 
tempt  to  form  a  rival  nation,  aspiring  to  grow 
towards  the  South.  Such  is  the  true  extent  of  the 
separation  that  is  preparing. 

Suppose  these  projects  to  become,  some  day, 
realities,  we  may  ask  whether  a  real  weakening  of 
the  United  States  would  be  the  result.  Suppose 
even  that  another  secession,  based  on  different  mo 
tives,  which  nothing  foretells  at  present,  should  take 
place  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains ;  suppose  that 
a  Pacific  republic  should  some  day  be  founded, 
would  the  American  Confederation  have  reason  to 
be  greatly  troubled  at  witnessing  the  formation  on 
her  sides  of  the  association  of  the  gulf  States,  Cali 
fornia,  and  Oregon  ?  Look  at  a  map,  and  you  will 
see  that  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  of  the 
lakes,  and  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic,  are  not  neces 
sarily  connected  either  with  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
(save  the  indispensable  outlet  at  Xew  Orleans,)  or 
the  regions  beyond  the  great  desert  and  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  the  land  of  the  Mormons  and  the  gold- 
diggers.  Unity  is  not  always  the  absolute  good, 
and  it  may  be  that  progress  must  come  through  dis 
ruption.  "Who  knows  whether  instantaneous  seces 
sion  would  not  perform  the  mission  of  resolving 


133  THE    PKESENT   CRISIS. 

certain  problems  otherwise  insoluble  ?  Who  knows 
whether  slavery  must  not  disappear  in  this  wise  in 
the  very  effort  that  it  makes  to  strengthen  itself 
through  isolation  ?  Who  knows  whether  it  is  not 
important  to  the  prosperity  and  real  power  of  the 
United  States  to  escape  from  theories  of  territorial 
monopoly,  those  evil  counsellors  but  too  much 
heeded  ?  Who  knows,  in  fine,  whether  the  clay  will 
not  come,  when,  the  questions  of  slavery  once  set 
tled,  new  federal  ties  will  again  bind  to  the  centre 
the  parts  that  stray  from  it  to-day  ? 

I  put  these  questions  ;  I  make  no  pretensions  to 
resolve  them.  In  any  case,  the  imagination  has 
had  full  scope  for  some  time  past.  People  have  not 
been  satisfied  with  the  Southern  Confederacy ;  have 
they  not  invented  both  the  pretended  Pacific  Con 
federacy  which  I  have  just  mentioned,  and  the 
central  Confederacy,  in  which  the  border  States 
will  take  shelter  in  common  with  two  or  three  free 
States,  as  Pennsylvania  and  Indiana  ?  Have  they 
not  supposed,  in  the  bargain,  (for  they  seem  to 
find  it  necessary  to  discover  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union  everywhere  at  all  costs,)  that  the  agricultural 
population  of  the  West,  discontented  with  the  tariff 
recently  adopted,  and  putting  in  practice  the  new 
maxim,  according  to  which  they  are  to  have  re- 


THE   PRESENT   CRISIS.  139 

course  to  separation,  instead  of  pursuing  reforms, 
will  seek  an  asylum  in  Canada  ?  I  need  not  discuss 
such  fables.  I  am  convinced,  for  my  part,  that  the 
principle  of  American  unity  is  much  more  solid 
than  people  affirm ;  I  see  in  the  United  States  a 
single  race,  and  almost  a  single  family  :  they  may 
divide,  they  will  not  cease  to  be  related.  The  rela 
tionship  will  take  back  its  rights.  For  the  time, 
however,  secession  seems  to  have  a  providential 
part  to  enact.  It  facilitates,  in  certain  respects, 
the  first  steps  of  Mr.  Lincoln ;  thanks  to  it,  the  hos 
tile  majority  in  the  Senate  is  blotted  out,  the  uncer 
tainty  of  the  House  of  Representatives  is  decided, 
the  Government  becomes  possible.  In  the  face  of 
the  senators  and  representatives  of  the  gulf  States, 
I  do  not  see  how  Mr.  Lincoln  could  have  succeeded 
in  acting.  Did  not  the  Senate,  last  year,  adopt  the 
proposition  of  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  in  opposition  to 
the  liberty  of  the  Territories  ?  Congress  would  have 
trammelled,  one  after  another,  all  the  measures  of 
the  new  administration.  Xow,  on  the  contrary,  the 
role  of  the  victorious  party  will  be  easy ;  its  pre 
ponderance  is  assured  in  both  Houses  ;  the  Supreme 
Court  will  cease,  ere  long,  to  represent  the  doctrines 
of  the  extreme  South,  and  to  issue  Dred  Scott  de 
crees.  This  is  a  vast  change.  General  Cass,  in 


140  THE    PRESENT    CRISIS. 

truth,  comprehended  the  interests  of  slavery  better 
than  Mr.  Buchanan,  when  he  demanded  that  the 
Government  should  arrest  with  vigor  from  the  be 
ginning  the  faintest  wish  of  separation. 


PBOBABLE   CONSEQUENCES   OF   THE   CEISIS.       14:1 


CHAPTEE    VIII. 

PROBABLE   CONSEQUENCES   OF   THE   CRISIS. 

GENERAL  CASS  was  nearer  right  than  he  himself 
imagined.  In  arresting  from  the  beginning  the  de 
velopment  of  the  plans  of  the  South,  by  a  vigorous 
attitude,  and  by  the  blockade,  then  easy,  of  Charles 
ton,  the  Government  would  not  only  have  rendered 
it  the  trifling  service  of  maintaining  its  means  of 
opposition  in  Congress,  but  also  the  inappreciable 
boon  of  averting  the  dangers  of  war.  "What  has 
happened,  on  the  contrary  ?  Precisely  what  must 
have  happened,  the  human  heart  being  such  as  it  is. 
When  on  one  side  is  found  all  the  ardor,  all  the  ac 
tivity,  all  the  resolution,  and,  into  the  bargain,  all 
the  apparent  success,  while  on  the  other  is  found 
languor,  hesitation,  inaction,  and  disgraceful  delays, 
it  happens  almost  infallibly  that  the  undecided  are 
hurried  away  by  the  fanatics. 

Let  the  United  States  take  care  !  the  chances  of 


142    PROBABLE  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  CRISIS. 

the  future  incur  the  risk,  at  tins  moment,  of  becom 
ing  more  grave.  To-day,  the  border  States  are  on 
the  point  of  declaring  themselves  ;  to-day,  in  conse 
quence,  it  is  important  to  offer  to  their  natural  ir 
resolution  the  support  of  a  policy  as  firm  as  moder 
ate.  Given  over  without  defence  to  the  ardei.t 
solicitations  of  the  extreme  South,  they  are  only  too 
likely  to  yield,  particularly  if  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  give  them  reason  to  believe  that  the  separation 
will  encounter  no  serious  obstacle. 

We  must  remember  that  ignorant  communities 
are  here  in  question,  who  are  ruled  by  their  preju 
dices,  and  who  have  never  tolerated  the  slightest 
show  of  discussion  upon  questions  connected  with 
the  subject  of  slavery.  Such  communities  are  ca 
pable  of  committing  the  most  egregious  follies ; 
panics,  sudden  resolutions,  mistaken  unanimities, 
are  common  among  them.  Formerly,  kings  AVCJ  o 
pitied  who  lived  surrounded  by  flatterers,  it  was 
said  (we  have  provided  against  that)  that  the  truth 
never  reached  them  ;  the  planters  are  the  only  men 
I  see  to-day  that  can  be  likened  to  these  mon- 
archs  of  olden  time ;  neither  books,  nor  journals, 
nor  preachers,  are  permitted  to  point  out  to  them 
their  duties  or  their  interests  in  the  matter  of 
slavery. 


PROBABLE   CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE    CEISIS. 

The  slightest  symptom  of  inertia  or  of  feebleness 
in  the  Federal  Government  at  this  time,  will,  there 
fore,  expose  the  border  States  to  great  perils,  and, 
through  them,  the  whole  Confederation.  As  easy 
as  it  would  have  been,  with  a  little  energy,  to  pre 
vent  the  evil,  to  confine  secession  within  its  natural 
limits,  and  to  weaken  the  chances  of  civil  war,  so 
difficult  has  it  become,  at  present,  to  attain  the  same 
end.  Painful  duties,  perhaps,  will  be  imposed  on 
Mr.  Lincoln.  I  wonder,  in  truth,  at  the  politicians 
who  advise  him  to  a  "  masterly  inactivity,"  that  is, 
who  urge  him  to  continue  Mr.  Buchanan  !  Doubt 
less  he  does  right  to  leave  to-  the  insurgents  all  the 
odium  of  acting  on  the  offensive,  but  his  moderation 
should  detract  nothing  from  his  firmness,  and  it  is 
even  of  importance  that  the  means  of  action  which 
he  is  about  to  prepare,  should  manifest  so  clearly 
the  overwhelming  superiority  of  the  2x"orth,  that 
the  resistance  of  the  South  will  be  thereby  dis 
couraged. 

Adversaries  of  slavery  are  not  wanting,  who  are 
almost  indignant  at  the  adoption  of  such  measures 
by  the  new  President.  Did  they  fancy  then  that  a 
formidable  question  could  be  resolved  without  risk 
ing  the  repression  of  the  assaults  of  force  by  force  ? 
Away  with  childishness !  In  electing  Mr.  Lincoln, 


144:       PEOBABLE   CONSEQUENCES   OF  THE   CEI8IS. 

it  was  known  that  the  cotton  States  were  ready  to 
protest  with  arms  in  their  hands  ;  he  was  not  elect 
ed  to  receive  orders  from  the  cotton  States,  or  to 
sign  the  dissolution  of  the  United  States  on  the  first 
requisition.  Who  wills  the  end,  wills  the  means. 
No  one,  certainly,  desires,  more  than  myself,  tl.e 
peaceful  repression  of  the  rebellion.  May  the  success 
of  the  blockade  render  the  employment  of  the  army 
useless !  May  the  resolute  attitude  of  the  Confeder 
ation  arrest  the  majority  of  the  intermediate  States 
on  the  dangerous  declivity  upon  which  they  a*e 
standing!  Once  let  them  be  drawn  into  the  circle 
of  influence  of  the  extreme  South,  and  little  chance 
will  remain  of  confining  the  civil  war  within  the 
limits  beyond  which  it  is  so  important  that  it  should 
not  spread. 

Then  will  appear  the  irrepressible  conflict  of  Mr. 
Seward.  Whether  desired  or  not,  if  the  two  Con 
federations  are  placed  side  by  side,  the  one  repre 
senting  all  the  slavery,  the  other  representing  all 
the  liberty,  the  conflict  will  take  place.  It  will 
take  place  perhaps  now,  perhaps  a  little  later ; 
however  this  may  be,  no  one  will  have  the  power 
to  hinder  it.  Suppose  the  South,  thus  completed, 
relinquish  (and  nothing  is  less  certain)  the  open 
ing  by  itself  of  a  war  in  which  it  must  perish, 


PROBABLE   CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE   CllISIS.        14:5 

and  its  great  plans  of  attack,  against  Washington, 
for  instance,  be  abandoned ;  suppose  the  United 
States,  on  their  side,  avoid  a  direct  attack,  which 
would  give  the  signal  for  insurrections ;  suppose 
they  limit  themselves  to  purely  maritime  repression 
of  the  revolt ;  that,  after  striking  off  the  Southern 
harbors  from  the  list  of  seaports,  and  declaring  that 
custom-house  duties  cannot  be  legally  paid  there, 
they  maintain  this  blockade,  which  Europe  should 
applaud ;  would  they  have  averted  all  chances 
of  conflict  ?  !N"o ;  alas  I  However  temporary  such 
a  situation  might  be,  complaints,  recriminations, 
and,  ere  long,  violent  reprisals,  would  be  seen  every 
where  arising.  Rivalries  of  principles,  rivalries 
of  interests,  bitter  memories  of  past  injuries,  such 
are  the  rocks  on  which  peaceful  policy  would  be  in 
continual  danger  of  shipwreck. 

We  must  not  cherish  illusions ;  the  chances  of 
civil  war  have  been  increasing  for  a  few  weeks  past 
with  fearful  rapidity.  If  Mr.  Lincoln  has  confined 
himself  scrupulously  to  conservative  and  defensive 
measures,  there  has  been,  on  the  contrary,  in  the 
actions  of  the  South,  a  violent  precipitation  which 
has  surpassed  all  expectancy.  It  is  the  haste  of 
skilful  men,  who  attempt  by  a  bold  stroke  to  carry 

off  the  advantages  of  a  deed  accomplished  ;  it  is  at 

7 


14:6         PROBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF    THE    CRISIS. 

the  same  time,  and  chiefly,  perhaps,  the  haste  cf 
men  who  have  nothing  to  lose,  the  ringleaders  cf 
the  present  hour.  At  the  end  of  resources,  the  in 
surgent  South  has  already  increased  its  taxes  inor 
dinately  ;  it  has  killed  public  and  private  credit ;  it 
has  created  a  disturbed  revolutionary  condition,  in 
tolerable  in  the  end,  which  no  longer  permits  delib 
eration,  or  even  reflection.  "Will  the  South  pam  e 
on  such  a  road  ?  It  is  difficult  to  hope  it.  As  t  o 
the  North,  its  plan  of  action  is  very  simple,  and 
easily  maintained  :  suppose  even  that  through  im 
possibility  it  should  give  over  forcing  the  rcbe  s 
back  to  their  duty,  who  can  ever  imagine  that  't 
would  suffer  itself  to  be  deprived  of  the  mouths  of 
the  Mississippi,  or  that  it  would  abandon  to  the  riv;  1 
Confederacy  the  capital  itself  of  the  Union,  inclosed 
within  the  slave  States  ?  Let  us  see  things  as  they 
are :  the  maintenance  and  development  of  slavery 
in  the  South  will  render  the  abolitionist  proceedings 
of  its  neighbor  intolerable  in  its  eyes  ;  if  it  has  not 
been  able  to  endure  a  contradiction  accompanied 
with  infinite  circumspection,  and  tempered  by  many 
prudent  disclaimers,  how  will  it  support  this  daily 
torture,  a  unanimous  and  well-founded  censure,  ;i 
perpetual  denunciation  of  the  infamies  which  accom 
pany  and  constitute  the  "patriarchal  institution  '•  \ 


PEOBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE    CRISIS.        147 

The  North,  on  its  side,  will  be  unable  to  forget  that, 
by  the  act  of  the  South,  without  reason  or  pretext, 
the  glorious  unity  of  the  nation  has  been  broken ; 
that  the  star-spangled  banner  has  been  rent  in 
twain  ;  that  the  commercial  prosperity  of  America 
has  been  shaken  at  the  same  time  with  its  greatness. 
Let  one  of  those  incidents  then  occur,  that  are  con 
stantly  arising,  a  Southern  slave  ship  stopped  on 
the  high  seas  by  the  North,  a  negotiation  of  the 
South  threatening  to  introduce  Europe  into  the 
affairs  of  the  New  World,  and  directly  hostilities 
will  break  out. 

What  they  will  be,  I  scarcely  dare  imagine.  If 
the  planters  are  forced,  at  present,  to  mount  guard 
day  and  night,  to  prevent  the  insurrectionary  move 
ments  that  are  constantly  ready  to  break  out  on 
their  estates ;  if  manv  families  are  already  sending 

«/  t/  O 

their  women  and  children  into  safer  countries  ;  what 
will  it  be  when  the  arrival  of  the  forces  of  the  North 
shall  announce  to  the  slaves  that  the  hour  of  deliv 
erance  has  sounded  ?  It  will  be  in  vain  to  deny  it ; 
their  arrival  will  always  signify  this  in  the  sight 
of  the  South.  There  are  certain  facts,  the  popular 
interpretation  of  which  ends  by  being  the  true  in 
terpretation.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  generals  of 
the  United  States,  before  attacking  the  Southern 


148        PROBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE    CRISIS. 

Confederacy,  will  recommend  to  the  negroes  to  re 
main  at  peace,  and  will  disavow  and  condemn  ac~  s 
of  violence ;  but  what  is  a  manifesto  against  tl  e 
reality  of  things  and  the  necessity  of  situations  ? 
There  is  a  word  that  I  see  written  in  large  letters 
everywhere  in  the  projects  of  the  South — yes,  the 
word  catastrophe  is  to  be  read  there  in  every  lino. 
The  first  successes  of  the  South  are  a  catastrophe  ; 
the  greatness  of  the  South  will  be  a  catastrophe  ; 
and,  if  the  South  ever  realize  in  part  the  iniquitous 
hopes  towards  which  it  is  rushing,  the  catastrophe 
will  acquire  unheard-of  proportions ;  it  will  be  a  S". 
Domingo  carried  to  the  tenth  power. 

One  cannot,  with  impunity,  give  full  scope  to 
his  imagination,  and,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1861, 
set  to  work  to  contrive  the  plan  of  a  Confederacy 
designed  to  protect  and  to  propagate  slavery.  These 
things  will  be  avenged  sooner  or  later.  Ah  !  if  tho 
South  knew  how  important  it  is  that  it  should  not 
succeed,  if  it  comprehended  that  the  Kbrtli  lias 
been  hitherto  its  great,  its  only  guarantee  !  This  is 
literally  true ;  a  slave  country,  above  all,  to-day, 
needs  to  be  backed  up  by  a  free  country  to  ensure 
the  subsistence  of  an  institution  contrary  to  nature  ; 
otherwise  the  first  accident,  the  first  war,  gives  it 
over  to  perils  that  make  us  shudder.  Thanks  to 


PROBABLE   CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE    CEISIS. 

their  metropolises,  our  colonies  were  able  first  to 
keep,  and  afterwards  to  enfranchise  their  slaves, 
without  succumbing  to  the  task.  But  let  a  South 
ern  Confederacy  come,  in  which  the  immigration  of 
the  whites  will  be  naught,  while  the  increase  of  the 
blacks  will  be  pursued  in  all  ways,  and,  in  case  of  suc 
cess,  the  moment  will  soon  arrive  when  many  States 
will  see  themselves  placed,  as  is  the  case  already 
with  South  Carolina,  in  presence  of  a  number  of 
slaves  exceeding  that  of  free  men.  Such  a  social 
monstrosity  never  existed  under  the  sun ;  even  in 
Greece,  even  in  Rome,  even  among  the  Mussul 
mans,  the  total  number  of  free  men  remained  su 
perior  ;  the  colonies  alone,  through  the  effect  of  the 
slave  trade,  presented  an  in  verse  "phenomenon,  and 
the  colonies  were  consolidated  with  their  metropo 
lises  in  the  same  manner  that  the  States  of  the  South 
are  consolidated  with  those  of  the  North. 

In  this  will  be  found,  I  repeat,  a  most  important 
guarantee.  The  South  in  rejecting  it,  and  imagining 
itself  able  alone  to  maintain  a  situation  which  will 
become  graver  day  by  day,  deludes  itself  most 
strangely.  At  the  hour  of  peril,  when  servile  in 
surrection  perhaps  shall  ravage  its  territory,  it  will 
be  astonished  to  find  itself  left  alone  in  the  presence 
of  its  enemy. 


150         PKOBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF    THE    CK1SIS. 

And  this  enemy  is  not  one  that  can  be  conquered 
once  for  all.  Even  after  the  victory,  even  in  times 
of  peace,  the  threat  of  servile  insurrection  will  ever 
remain  suspended  over  the  head  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy  ;  it  will  be  necessary  always  to  watch, 
always  to  be  on  the  guard,  always  to  repress,  and, 
to  tell  the  truth,  always  to  tremble.  The  planters, 
whether  they  know  it  or  not,  are  not  preparing  to 
sleep  on  a  bed  of  roses.  To  labor  to  accomplish  an 
iniquitous  work  amidst  the  maledictions  of  the  uni 
verse,  to  increase  their  estates  and  their  slaves  un 
der  penalty  of  death,  and  to  feel  instinctively  thai: 
they  will  die  for  having  increased  them,  to  tremble; 
because  of  European  hostility,  to  tremble  because 
of  American  hostility,  to  tremble  because  of  hostil 
ity  from  without  and  within — what  a  life !  That 
one  might  accept  it  in  the  service  of  a  noble  cause, 
I  can  comprehend  ;  but  the  cause  of  the  South  !  In 
truth,  this  would  be  taking  great  pains  for  small 
wages. 

The  South  inspires  me  with  profound  com 
passion.  We  have  told  it,  much  too  often,  that  its 
Confederacy  was  easy  to  found.  To  found,  yes;  to 
make  lasting,  no.  Here,  it  is  not  the  first  step  that 
costs — it  is  the  second,  it  is  the  third.  The  South 
ern  Confederacy  is  not  viable.  Let  us  suppose  that, 


PKOBABLE   CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE   CKISIS.         151 

to  its  misfortune,  it  has  succeeded  in  all  that  it  has 
just  undertaken :  Charleston  is  free,  the  border 
States  are  drawn  in,  there  is  a  new  federal  compact 
and  a  new  President,  the  Northern  States  have  of  ne 
cessity  abandoned  the  suppression  of  the  insurrec 
tion  by  force,  Europe  has  surmounted  its  repugnance 
and  received  the  envoys  of  the  great  Slave  republic. 
All  questions  seem  resolved ;  but  no,  not  a  single 
one  has  attained  its  solution. 

The  policy  of  the  South  must  have  its  applica 
tion.  Its  first  article,  whether  it  declares  it  or  not, 
exacts  conquests,  the  absorption  of  Mexico,  for  ex 
ample.  The  fillib usters  of  Walker  are  still  ready  to 
set  out,  and  the  first  moment  past,  when  the  ques 
tion  is  to  appear  discreet,  it  is  scarcely  probable 
that  they  will  meet  with  much  restraint,  now  that 
the  prudence  of  the  Xorth  is  no  longer  at  hand  to 
counterbalance  the  passions  of  Slavery. 

Admit  that  this  enterprise  bring  no  difficult 
complications.  For  these  new  territories,  the  ques 
tion  will  be  to  procure  negroes.  The  second  article 
of  the  Southern  policy  will  find  then  nolens  volens, 
its  inevitable  application :  the  African  slave  trade 
will  be  re-established.  The  richest  planter  of 
Georgia,  Mr.  Goulden,  has  taken  care  to  set  forth 
its  necessity ;  mark  the  language  which  he  held 


152        PKOBAJ3LE   CONSEQUENCES   OF   THE   CRISIS. 

lately  :  "  You  have  hardly  negroes  enough  for  the 
existing  States ;  obtain  the  opening  of  the  slavo 
trade,  then  you  can  undertake  to  increase  the  num 
ber  of  slave  States." 

Will  the  official  re-opening  of  the  slave  trade  bo 
some  day  effected  without  bringing  on  a  storm 
which  will  destroy  the  new  Confederacy?  I  can 
not  say.  In  any  case,  I  know  one  thing:  that  tho 
value  of  the  slaves,  and  consequently  that  of  South 
ern  property }  will  experience  a  decline  greatly  ex 
ceeding  that  by  which  it  is  now  threatened,  as  it  it- 
said,  by  the  abolition  tendencies  of  the  North.  Al 
ready,  through  the  mere  fact  of  secession,  the  price  ot 
negroes  has  diminished  one-half;  and  more  than  one 
intelligent  planter  foresees  the  time  when  this  price 
shall  have  diminished  three-fourths^  perhaps  nine- 
tenths.  Southern  fortunes  are  falling  off,  therefore, 
with  extreme  rapidity,  and  this  arises  not  only  from 
the  anticipated  effects  of  the  slave  trade,  but  also 
from  the  certainty  of  being  unable  henceforth  to  put 
a  stop  to  the  escape  of  the  slaves.  These  escapes, 
taken  all  in  all,  remained  insignificant,  so  long  as 
the  Union  was  maintained  ;  there  are  not  more  than 
fifty  thousand  free  negroes  in  Canada.  But  hence 
forth  the  Southern  Confederacy  will  have  a  Canada 
everywhere  on  its  frontiers.  How  retain  that  slavery 


PKOBABLE   CONSEQUENCES   OF   THE   CKISIS.        153 

that  will  escape  simultaneously  on  the  North  and 
the  South?  The  Southern  republic  will  be  as  it 
were  the  common  enemy,  and  no  one  assuredly  will 
aid  it  to  keep  its  slaves. 

It  must  not  be  believed,  moreover,  that  it  will 
succeed  long  in  preserving  itself  from  intestine 
divisions — divisions  among  the  whites.  If,  at  the 
first  moment,  when  every  thing  is  easy,  unanimity 
is  far  from  appearing  as  complete  as  had  been  fore 
told,  it  will,  later,  be  much  worse.  We  shall  then 
perceive  how  prophetic,  if  I  may  dare  say  so,  were 
the  often-quoted  words  of  Washington's  farewell  ad 
dress  :  "  It  is  necessary  that  you  should  accustom 
yourselves  to  regard  the  Union  as  the  palladium  of 
your  happiness  and  your  security  ;  that  you  should 
watch  over  it  with  a  jealous  eye  ;  that  you  should 
impose  silence  on  any  who  shall  ever  dare  counsel 
you  to  renounce  it ;  that  you  should  give  vent  to 
all  your  indignation  on  the  first  effort  that  shall  be 
attempted  to  detach  from  the  whole  any  part  of 
the  Confederation." 

A  very  different  voice,  that  of  Jefferson,  spoke 
the  same  language.  A  Southern  man,  addressing 
himself  to  the  South,  which  talked  already  of  se 
ceding,  he  described  in  thrilling  words  the  inevi 
table  consequences  of  such  an  act :  "If,  to  rid  our- 


154        PKOBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF    THE    CKISIS. 

selves  of  the  present  supremacy  of  Massachusetts 
and  Connecticut,  we  were  to  break  up  the  Union, 
would  the  trouble  stop  there  ?  .  .  .  We  should 
soon  see  a  Pennsylvanian  party  and  a  Virginian 
party  forming  in  what  remained  of  the  Confedera 
tion,  and  the  same  party  spirit  would  agitate  public 
opinion.  By  what  new  weapons  wTould  these  par- 
tics  be  armed,  if  they  had  power  to  threaten  each 
other  continually  with  joining  their  Northern  neigh 
bors,  in  case  things  did  not  go  on  in  such  or  such  a 
manner  !  If  we  were  to  reduce  our  Union  to  North 
Carolina  and  Virginia,  the  conflict  would  break  out 
again  directly  between  the  representatives  of  these 
two  States  ;  we  should  end  by  being  reduced  to 
simple  unities." 

Is  not  this  the  anticipated  history  of  what  is 
about  to  happen  in  the  Southern  Confederacy,  sup 
posing  it  to  succeed  in  uniting  with  a  part  of  the 
border  States  ?  The  opening  programme  will 
last  as  long  as  programmes  usually  do.  When 
the  true  plan  of  the  South,  veiled  for  a  moment. 
shall  reappear,  (arid  it  must  indeed  reappear,  un 
less  it  perishes  before  it  lias  begun  to  exist  ;) 
when  the  question  shall  be  to  increase  and  be  peo 
pled,  to  make  conquests  and  to  reestablish  the  Af 
rican  slave  trade  ;  when  the  serious  purpose,  in  a 


PROBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF    THE   CRISIS.        155 

word,  shall  have  replaced  the  purpose  of  circum 
stance,  what  will  take  place  between  the  border 
States  and  the  cotton  States  ?  The  profound  dis 
tinction  which  exists  between  them  will  then  man 
ifest  itself,  even  if  it  does  not  break  forth  before. 
A  new  South  and  a  new  Korth  will  be  formed,  as 
hostile  perhaps  as  the  old,  and  less  forgiving  tow 
ards  each  other  of  their  mutual  faults,  inasmuch  as 
they  will  be  embittered  by  misfortune.  JSTothing 
divides  people  like  a  bad  cause  that  turns  out 
badly.  They  think  themselves  united,  they  call 
themselves  united,  until  the  moment  when  they 
discover  that  they  have  neither  the  same  end  nor 
the  same  mind.  I  do  not  see  why  the  victory  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  will  have  transformed  the  South,  and 
suppressed  the  divergencies  which  separated  it  into 
two  groups  :  that  of  the  Gulf  States  voting  for  Mr. 
Breckenridge,  that  of  the  border  States  voting  for 
Mr.  Douglas  or  Mr.  Bell,  and  even  casting  ballots 
for  Mr.  Lincoln. 

Kot  only  will  the  Gulf  States,  the  only  true  se 
cessionists,  never  act  in  concert  with  the  border 
States,  but  they  will  not  be  long  in  seeing  parties 
spring  up  in  their  own  bosom,  which  will  be  little 
disposed  to  come  to  terms.  A  sort  of  feudal  ques 
tion,  as  is  well  known,  is  near  obtaining  a  position 


156        PKOBABLE   CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE   CKISIS. 

in  the  South ;  the  poor  whites  there  are  two  or 
three  times  as  numerous  as  the  planters.  Tli3 
struggle  of  classes  may,  therefore,  break  out  as 
soon  as  the  effected  secession  shall  have  banished 
to  the  second  rank  the  struggle  against  the  adver 
saries  of  slavery. 

The  impoverishment  of  the  South  will  not  aid 
in  calming  its  intestine  quarrels.  European  immi 
gration,  already  so  meagre  in  the  slave  States, 
(Charleston  is  the  only  large  American  city  whoso 
population  has  decreased,  according  to  the  last  cen 
sus,)  European  immigration,  I  say,  will  evidently 
diminish  still  more  when  the  South  shall  have  taken 
an  independent  and  hostile  position  opposite  the 
Northern  States.  Who  will  go  then  to  expose  him 
self  lightly  to  the  fearful  chances  which  the  first 
war  with  any  country,  American  or  European,  may 
bring  in  its  train  ?  And  credit  will  go  the  same 
way  as  immigration  :  to  lend  money  to  planters, 
whose  entire  property  is  continually  menaced  with 
destruction,  is  one  of  those  hazardous  operations 
from  which  commerce  is  accustomed  to  recoil. 
Deprived  of  the  capital  furnished  it  by  New  York. 
obtaining  only  with  great  difficulty  a  few  onerous 
and  precarious  advances  in  Europe,  the  South  will 
see  itself  smitten  at  once  in  all  its  means  of  produc- 


PROBABLE   CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE   CKISIS.        157 

tion  ;  and,  after  the  harvest  of  1860,  which  secures 
our  supplies  of  cotton  for  a  year,  it  is  difficult  to 
divine  how  it  will  set  about  continuing  its  culti 
vation.  At  the  same  time  that  it  will  produce 
less  cotton,  and  that  we  shall  lose  the  habit  of 
buying  of  it,  the  cotton  culture  will  become  accli 
mated  elsewhere  ;  the  future  will  thus  be  destroyed 
like  the  present ;  final  ruin  will  approach  with  hasty 
strides. 

They  tell  us  of  a  loan  that  the  new  Confeder 
acy  designs  to  contract !  Unless  it  be  transformed 
into  a  forced  loan,  I  have  little  faith  in  its  chance. 
They  add  that  it  will  be  only  necessary  to  estab 
lish  on  exported  cotton  a  duty  of  a  few  cents  per 
pound,  and  the  coffers  of  the  South  will  be  filled. 
But,  in  the  first  place,  to  export  cotton,  they  must 
produce  it — they  must  have  money  ;  it  is  almost 
impossible  that  the  State  should  be  rich  when  all 
its  citizens  are  in  distress ;  then  the  exportation 
itself  will  be  exposed  to  some  difficulties  if  the 
United  States  organize  a  blockade.  And  I  say 
nothing  of  the  bad  effect  that  9  will  be  produced 
by  this  tax  a  la  Turgue — this  tax  on  exportation 
in  the  very  midst  of  plans  of  commercial  freedom. 
Neither  do  I  speak  of  the  effect  which  this  extra 
charge,  which  is  termed  trifling,  but  which  is,  in 


158        PKOBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF    THE    CRISIS. 

fact,  considerable,  will  have  on  the  sale  of  American 
cotton,  already  so  defective,  when  compared  w  th 
the  average  price  of  other  cottons. 

Poor  country,  which  "blind  passion,  and,  above 
all,  indomitable  pride,  precipitates  into  the  path  of 
crime  and  misery  !  Poor,  excommunicated  nation, 
whose  touch  will  be  dreaded,  whose  flag  will  be 
suspected,  whose  continually  increasing  humilia 
tions  will  not  even  be  compensated  by  a  few  mea 
gre  profits  !  The  heart  is  oppressed  at  the  thought 
of  the  clear,  certain,  inevitable  future,  which  awaits 
so  many  men,  less  guilty  than  erring.  Between 
them  and  the  rest  of  the  world  there  will  be  noth 
ing  longer  in  common  ;  they  will  establish  on  their 
frontier  a  police  overbooks  and  journals,  essaying 
to  prevent  the  fatal  introduction  of  an  idea  of  lib 
erty  :  the  rest  of  the  world  will  have  for  them  nei 
ther  political  sympathies,  nor  moral  sympathies, 
nor  religious  sympathies. 

Will  they  at  least  have  the  consolation  of  having 
killed  the  United  States?  Will  a  glorious  confed 
eration  have  perished  by  their  retreat  ?  JS"o,  a 
thousand  times  no.  Even  though  they  should  suc 
ceed  in  drawing  the  border  States  into  the  Southern 
Confederacy,  the  United  States,  thank  God  !  will 
keep  their  rank  among  nations.  Where  will  the 


PKOBABLE   CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE   CRISIS.        159 

United  States  be  after  secession  ?  Where  they  were 
before ;  for  a  long  time  the  gravitation  of  their 
power  has  been  tending  towards  the  Northwest. 
The  true  America  is  there,  that  of  ancient  traditions, 
and  that  of  present  reality.  If  any  serious  fears 
might  have  been 'conceived  as  to  its  duration,  they 
disappeared  on  the  day  of  the  election  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln.  On  that  day,  we  all  learned  that  the  United 
States  would  subsist,  and  that  their  malady  was  not 
mortal. 

Great  news  was  this !  Did  you  ever  ask  your 
self  how  much  would  be  missing  here  on  earth  if 
such  a  people  should  disappear?  It  lives  and  it 
will  live.  Look  at  the  calm  and  confident  air  of  the 
North,  and  compare  it  with  the  noisy  violence  of 
the  South.  The  North  is  so  sure  of  itself  that  it 
does  not  deign  either  to  become  angered,  or  to  has 
ten  ;  it  even  carries  this  last  to  extremes.  It  has 
the  air  of  knowing  that,  in  spite  of  the  apparent 
successes  which  may  mark  the  first  efforts  of  the 
South,  the  final  success  must  be  elsewhere.  Let 
the  South  take  care !  to  have  against  it  both  right 
and  might  is  twice  as  much  as  is  needed  to  be 
beaten.  The  North  supported  Mr.  Buchanan  be 
cause  it  was  awaiting  Mr.  Lincoln.  Mr.  Lincoln 
came,  the  North  still  has  patience,  but  will  end 


160        PROBABLE   CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE    CRISIS. 

by  falling  into  line,  and  the  serious  struggle  will 
begin,  in  case  of  need. 

The  issue  of  this  struggle  can  scarcely  be  doubt 
ful.  On  one  side,  I  see  a  confederacy  divided,  im 
poverished,  bending  under  the  weight  of  a  crushing 
social  problem,  seeing  constantly  on  its  horizon  ihe 
menace  of  insurrections  and  of  massacres,  unable 
either  to  negotiate,  or  to  draw  the  sword,  or  to  re 
solve  any  of  the  difficulties  from  without,  without 
thinking  of  the  still  more  formidable  difficulties  from 
within;  on  the  other  side,  I  see  the  United  States, 
masters  of  themselves,  unanimous,  knowing  what 
they  want,  and  placing  at  the  service  of  a  noble 
cause,  a  power  which  is  continually  increasing. 

The  match  will  not  be  equal.  I  cannot  help 
believing,  therefore,  that  the  triumph  of  the  North 
will  be  even  much  more  complete  than  we  imagine 
to-day.  I  do  not  know  what  is  to  happen,  but  this 
I  know :  the  North  is  more  populous,  richer,  more 
united ;  European  immigration  goes  only  to  the 
North,  European  capital  goes  only  to  the  North. 
Of  what  elements  is  the  population  of  the  South 
composed?  The  first  six  States  that  proclaimed 
their  separation  number  exactly  as  many  slaves  as 
freemen.  What  a  position  !  Is  it  probable  indeed 
that  this  confederation  contrary  to  nature,  in  which 


PROBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE   CRISIS.        161 

each  white  will  be  charged  with  guarding  a  black, 
can  afford  a  long  career?  The  South,  divided, 
weakened,  bearing  in  its  side  the  continually  bleed 
ing  wound  of  slavery,  reduced  to  choose  in  the  end 
between  the  direful  plans  which  must  destroy  after 
having  dishonored  it,  and  the  Union  which  consoli 
dates  its  interests  while  thwarting  its  passions — is 
it  possible  that  the  South  will  not  return  to  the 
Union  ? 

Something  tells  me  that  if  the  Union  be  dis 
solved,  it  will  be  formed  again.  A  lasting  separation 
is  more  difficult  than  is  imagined.  Face  to  face 
with  Europe,  face  to  face  with  the  United  States, 
the  great  republic  of  the  South  would  find  it  too 
difficult  to  live.  To  live  at  peace  is  impossible  ;  to 
live  without  peace  is  not  to  be  thought  of.  The 
great  Southern  republic  must  perish  surely  by  its 
failure,  and  still  more  surely  by  its  success,  for 
this  monstrous  success  will  draw  down  its  destruc 
tion.  There  is  in  America  a  necessity,  as  it  were,  of 
union.  Unity  is  at  the  foundation,  diversity  is  only 
on  the  surface ;  unity  is  bound  up  with  the  national 
life  itself,  with  race,  origin,  belief,  common  destiny, 
a  like  degree  of  civilization,  in  a  word,  with  pro 
found  and  permanent  causes ;  diversity  proceeds 
from  the  accidents  of  institutions. 


162         PKOBAKLE    CO-Nfc>E<4U.E.NCKS    Or     THE    CKIS1S. 

Looking  only  at  the  province  of  interests,  is  it 
easy  to  imagine  an  irremediable  rupture  between 
ISTew  York  and  Charleston,  between  the  valley  of 
the  Mississippi  and  I^ew  Orleans  ?  What  would  the 
valley  of  the  Mississippi  be  without  !N"ew  Orleans, 
and  Xew  Orleans,  isolated  from  the  vast  country 
of  which  it  is  the  natural  market  ?  Can  you  fancy 
ISTew  York  renouncing  half  her  commerce,  ceasing 
to  be  the  broker  of  cotton,  the  necessary  medh.m. 
between  the  South  and  Europe  ?  Can  you  fancy 
the  South  deprived  of  the  intervention  and  credit 
which  !New  York  assures  her?  The  dependence 
of  the  Xortli  and  the  South  is  reciprocal ;  if  the 
South  produces  the  cotton,  it  is  the  Korth  which 
furnishes  the  advances,  then  purchases  on  its  own 
account  or  on  commission,  and  expedites  the  traffic 
with  Europe.  In  the  United  States,  every  part  has 
need  of  the  whole ;  agricultural  States,  manufac 
turing  States,  commercial  States,  they  form  together 
one  of  the  most  homogeneous  countries  of  which  I 
know.  I  should  be  surprised  if  such  a  country 
wTere  destined  to  become  forever  dismembered,  a; id 
that,  too,  at  an  epoch  less  favorable  to  the  dismem 
berment  of  great  nations  than  to  the  absorption  of 
small  ones. 

Shall  I  say   all  that  I  think?     When  Anglo- 


PKOBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE    CEISIS.        163 

Saxons  are  in  question,  we  Latins  are  apt  to  deceive 
ourselves  terribly  ;  one  would  not  risk  much,  per 
haps,  in  supposing  that  events  would  take  place 
precisely  in  the  reverse  of  our  hypothesis.  We 
have  loudly  predicted  in  Europe  the  end  of  the 
United  States,  the  birth  and  progress  of  a  rival 
Confederacy,  an  irremediable  separation :  is  not 
this  a  reason  for  supposing  that  there  will  be  ul 
timately  neither  a  prolonged  separation,  nor  a  rival 
Confederacy  worthy  of  consideration  ?  Free  coun 
tries,  especially  those  of  the  English  race,  have  a 
habit  of  which  we  know  little :  their  words  are 
exceedingly  violent,  and  their  actions  exceedingly 
circumspect.  They  make  a  great  noise  :  one  would 
say  that  every  thing  was  going  to  destruction  ;  but 
it  is  prudent  to  look  at  them  more  closely,  for  these 
countries  of  discussion  are  also  countries  of  com 
promise,  the  victors  are  accustomed  to  terminate 
political  crises  by  yielding  something  of  their  vic 
tory  ;  in  appearance,  it  is  true,  rather  than  in  reality. 
Fully  decided  at  heart,  they  consent  willingly  to 
appear  less  positive  in  form. 

Here,  I  know  that  the  extreme  violence  of  the 
South  renders  a  compromise  very  difficult,  at  least 
a  present  compromise.  As  it  is  accustomed  to  rule, 
and  will  be  content  with  no  less,  as  it  knows  that 


164:        PROBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF    THE    CRISIS. 

the  North,  decidedly  emancipated,  will  not  replace 
its  head  beneath  the  yoke,  it  seems  resolved  to  n- 
cur  all  risks  rather  than  renounce  its  fixed  id<;a. 
For  two  months,  the  probabilities  of  comprom  se 
have  been  becoming  constantly  weaker.  But  if  we 
have  scarcely  a  right  to  count  on  them  now,  so  i'ar 
as  the  Gulf  States  are  concerned,  we  must  rememler 
that  the  border  States  are  at  hand,  that  they  are 
hesitating  between  the  North  and  the  South,  and 
that  certain  concessions  may  be  made  to  them,  to 
prevent  their  separation. 

Such  is  the  true  character  of  the  discussions 
relating  to  compromise.  Confined  to  these  limits, 
they  nevertheless  possess  a  vast  interest,  for  the 
party  which  the  border  States  are  about  to  choose, 
and  that  to  which  they  will  perhaps  attach  them 
selves  afterwards,  will  have  a  great  influence  over 
the  general  course  of  the  crisis.  The  point  in  ques 
tion  is  no  longer,  doubtless,  to  retain  Virginia, 
whose  well-known  passions  impel  her  to  the  side  of 
Charleston,  but  to  induce  the  other  States  to  take 
an  attitude  in  conformity  with  their  interests  and 
their  duties.  It  will  not,  therefore,  be  useless  to 
give  an  account  of  the  disposition  that  prevails 
among  many  Americans  with  respect  to  com 
promise. 


PKOBAliLE   CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE   CKISI&.        165 

What  was  produced  by  that  Peace  Conference, 
convoked  with  so  much  noise  by  Virginia,  the  ancient 
political  State,  the  country  of  Washington,  Jefferson, 
Madison,  and  Monroe  ?  Xothing  worth  the  trouble 
of  mentioning.  A  considerable  number  of  States 
refused  to  be  present  at  this  conference,  which,  had 
it  been  general,  would  have  become  transformed 
into  a  convention,  and  have  annulled  Congress,  in 
point  of  fact,  then  in  session  in  the  same  city  ?  Its 
plan,  accepted  with  great  difficulty  by  a  factitious 
majority,  never  appeared  to  have  much  chance  of 
adoption.  The  point  in  question,  above  all,  was  to 
decide  that,  below  a  fixed  latitude,  the  majority  of 
the  inhabitants  of  a  Territory  could  not  prohibit 
the  introduction  of  slavery,  (disguised,  it  is  true,  un 
der  the  euphuistic  expression,  "  involuntary  servi 
tude  ; " )  this  measure  was  to  be  declared  irrevo 
cable,  unless  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the 
States.  Despite  the  support  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  and 
that  of  the  higher  branches  of  trade  in  !N"ew  York, 
seconded,  as  usual,  by  some  fashionable  circles  of 
Boston,  the  almost  unanimous  public  opinion  of  the 
]S"orth  forbade  all  belief  in  the  success  of  such  an 
amendment  to  the  Constitution,  which,  in  accord 
ance  with  the  Constitution  itself,  could  be  adopted 
only  on  condition  of  uniting  two-thirds  of  the  votes 


1GO        PROBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF    THE   CKISIS. 

of  Congress  to  the  affirmative  votes  of  three-fourths 
of  the  States  composing  the  Confederation. 

Another  project  was  put  forward  :  all  the  mem 
bers  of  Congress  were  to  tender  their  resignation, 
and  the  new  elections  were  to  manifest  the  clef  ni- 
tive  will  of  the  country  on  the  question  of  slavery. 
That  is,  from  the  intense  excitement  of  the  count  ry, 
were  to  be  demanded  some  final  elements  of  re  ac 
tion,  some  means  of  disavowing  the  election  of  Mr. 
Lincoln.  In  either  case,  it  would  have  been  tiius 
proved  by  an  exceptional  act  that  an  election  which 
is  not  ratified  by  the  South  may  rightfully  demand 
extraordinary  measures.  Now,  there  is  nothing  hut 
what  is  customary,  simple,  and  right,  i  the  conduct 
of  the  North  ;  it  knows  it,  and  will  not,  I  think, 
permit  such  an  advantage  to  be  gained  over  it.  To 
allow  talking,  to  allow  propositions,  and  to  go  its 
own  way,  this  is  the  programme  to  which  it  is 
bound  to  remain  faithful.  What  makes  its  honor 
makes  also  its  strength  :  this  is  the  privilege  of 
good  causes. 

The  North  has  not  sought  bases  for  a  compro 
mise.  They  are  all  laid  down,  and  I  dare  affirm, 
whatever  may  happen,  that  these  bases,  constantly 
the  same,  are  those  to  which  it  will  not  fail  to  re 
turn.  To  speak  truly,  it  has  but  one  declaration  to 


PROBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE    CRISIS.        167 

make  :  to  proclaim  anew  the  constitutional  law,  by 
virtue  of  which  each  State  sovereignly  decides  its 
own  affairs,  and  consequently  excludes  all  interfer 
ence  of  Congress  in  the  matter  of  slavery.  Perhaps 
it  will  join,  if  need  be,  to  this  declaration,  which  it 
has  never  refused,  the  promise  to  respect  to  the  ut 
most  of  its  power,  the  principle  of  the  restitution 
of  fugitive  slaves,  which,  unhappily,  is  also  based 
upon  the  Constitution.  But,  on  this  point,  promises 
are  worth  what  they  will  fetch,  for  doubtless  no  one 
will  imagine  that  it  is  easier  to  constrain  the  free 
States  to  accomplish  an  odious  deed  which  is  revolt 
ing  to  their  conscience  since  they  have  verified 
their  strength  by  electing  Mr.  Lincoln.  Lastly, 
upon  the  ruling  question,  that  of  the  Territories,  the 
theory  of  the  ]S"orth  evinces  justice  and  clearness ; 
between  the  ultra  abolitionists,  who  wish  Congress 
to  interfere  to  close  by  force  all  the  Territories  to 
slavery,  and  the  South,  which  wishes  Congress  to 
interfere  to  open  by  force  all  the  Territories  to  sla 
very,  it  adopts  this  middle  position  :  all  the  inhab 
itants  of  the  Territories  shall  open  or  close  them  to 
slavery,  according  to  their  will.  It  is  the  right  of 
the  majority,  recognized  there  as  elsewhere. 

I  am  not  ignorant  that  Mr.  Seward  has  gone 
much  farther  in  the  path  of  concession,  and  it  is 


168        PKOBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF    THE    CRISIS. 

not  absolutely  impossible  that  these  counsels  of 
weakness  may  prevail.  We  must  be  prepared  ior 
any  thing  in  this  respect.  Nevertheless,  the  Pre  si- 
dent  has  by  no  means  confirmed  the  imprudent 
words  of  his  future  prime  minister.  The  language 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  has  been  remarkably  clear.  In  his 
inaugural  speech,  to  go  no  further  back,  he  indi 
cates  expressly  the  true,  the  great  concession  tl:  at 
will  be  made  to  the  South :  "  Those  who  elected 
me  placed  in  the  platform  presented  for  my  accept 
ance,  as  a  law  for  them  and  for  me,  the  clear  a  id 
explicit  resolution  which  I  am  about  to  read  to 
you:  'The  maintenance  intact  of  the  right  of  the 
States,  and  especially  of  the  right  which  each  State 
possesses  to  regulate  and  exclusively  control  its 
institutions  according  to  its  own  views,  is  essential 
to  that  balance  of  power,  on  which  depend  the 
perfection  and  duration  of  our  political  structure ; 
and  we  denounce  the  invasion  in  contempt  of  the 
law  by  an  armed  force  of  the  soil  of  any  State  or 
Territory,  upon  whatever  pretext  it  may  be,  as  the 
greatest  of  crimes.'  r  Mr.  Lincoln  adds  further.; 
"  Congress  has  adopted  an  amendment  to  the  Con 
stitution,  which,  however,  I  have  not  seen,  the 
purpose  of  which  is  to  provide  that  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment  shall  never  interfere  in  the  domestic  insti- 


PROBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE   CKISIS.         169 

tutions  of  the  States,  including  those  which  relate 
to  persons  held  in  service.  In  order  to  avoid  all 
misunderstanding  concerning  what  I  have  said,  I 
depart  from  my  intention  of  not  speaking  of  any 
amendment  in  particular,  to  say  that,  considering 
this  clause  henceforth  as  a  constitutional  law,  I 
have  no  objection  that  it  be  rendered  explicit  and 
irrevocable." 

Concerning  fugitive  slaves,  the  inaugural  dis 
course  cites  the  text  of  the  federal  Constitution, 
which  decides  the  question  for  the  present ;  but  he 
.does  not  ignore  the  fact  that  this  constitutional  de 
cision  is  as  well  executed  as  it  can  be,  "  the  moral 
sense  of  the  people  lending  only  an  imperfect  sup 
port  to  the  law." 

As  to  the  Territories,  Mr.  Lincoln  declares 
clearly  that  the  minority  must  submit  to  the  ma: 
jority,  under  penalty  of  falling  into  complete  anar 
chy.  Neither  does  he  hesitate  on  the  subject  of 
the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court ;  these  decrees, 
in  his  eyes,  are  merely  special  decisions  rendered 
ill  particular  cases,  and  detracting  nothing  from 
the  right  which  the  Confederation  possesses  to  reg 
ulate  its  institutions  and  its  policy. 

All  this  is  very  firm,  without  being  provoking. 
The  limit  of  concessions  is  marked  out,  and  a  con- 
8 


170        PBOBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE    CRISIS. 

dilatory  spirit  is  maintained.  It  is  above  all  in 
disclosing  liis  line  of  conduct  towards  the  rebellions 
States,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  happily  resolves  the  prob 
lem  of  abandoning  none  of  the  rights  of  the  Con 
federation,  while  manifesting  the  most  pacific 
disposition,  and  leaving  to  others  the  odium  of 
aggression.  His  doctrine  on  this  point  may  be 
summed  up  in  this  wise  :  in  the  first  place,  the 
separation  is  unconstitutional,  it  should  be,  it  will 
be  combated,  nothing  on  earth  can  bring  the  Pres 
ident  to  accede  to  the  destruction  of  the  Union  :  in 
the  second  place,  he  will  not  be  the  aggressor,  he 
will  endeavor  to  shun  a  war  which  exposes  the- 
South  to  fearful  perils  ;  in  the  third  place,  he  will 
fulfill  the  duty  of  preserving  federal  property  and 
collecting  federal  taxes  in  the  South.  In  other 
terms,  he  will  employ  the  means  which  should  have 
been  employed  on  the  first  day,  and  which  would 
have  then  been  more  efficacious.  He  will  attempt 
the  establishment  of  a  maritime  blockade,  in  order 
to  reduce  the  rebellion  of  the  whites  without  pro 
voking  the  insurrection  of  the  negroes.  Already, 
the  vessels  of  war  have  been  recalled  from  distant 
stations.  Alas  !  I  have  little  hope  that  the  pre 
cautions  dictated  to  Mr.  Lincoln  by  prudence  and 
humanity  will  bear  their  fruits.  The  South  raises 


PROBABLE   CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE   CRISIS.        171 

an  army  and  is  about  to  attack  Fort  Sumter, 
knowing  that  it  will  thus  expose  itself  to  a  for 
midable  retribution.  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  fact,  has  not 
left  it  in  ignorance  of  this :  "  In  your  hands,  my 
dissatisfied  fellow-citizens,  in  yours  and  not  mine, 
is  found  the  terrible  question  of  civil  war.  The 
Government  will  not  attack  you  ;  you  wTill  have  no 
conflict,  if  you  are  not  the  aggressors.  You  have 
not,  on  your  part,  an  oath  registered  in  heaven  to 
destroy  the  Government ;  whilst  I,  on  my  side,  am 
about  to  take  the  most  solemn  oath  to  maintain,  to 
protect  and  defend  it." 

Such  is  the  respective  position.  Men  will  agi 
tate,  are  agitating  already,  about  the  new  President, 
to  take  away  from  his  thoughts  and  designs  this 
resolute  character  which  makes  their  force.  They 
attempt  to  demonstrate  to  him,  not  only  that  Fort 
Sumter,  so  easy  to  revictual  under  Mr.  Buchanan, 
has  now  become  inaccessible  to  aid,  and  that  no 
other  course  remains  than  to  authorize  its  surrender ; 
but  that  Fort  Pickens  itself  should  be  surrendered 
to  the  South,  in  order  to  reserve  every  chance  of 
reconciliation  and  in  no  degree  to  assume  the  re 
sponsibility  of  civil  war  !  I  hope  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
will  know  how  to  resist  these  enfeebling  influences. 
After  having  demonstrated  to  him  that  it  is  neces- 


172        PROBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE   CEISI8. 

sary  to  deliver  up  the  forts,  they  will  demonstrate 
to  him  that  it  is  necessary  to  renounce  the  block 
ade,  which  is  not  tenable  without  the  forts;  then, 
who  knows?  they  will  demonstrate  to  him  finally 
that  it  is  necessary  to  sign  some  disgraceful  com 
promise,  and  submit  almost  to  the  law  of  tie 
rebels. 

Once  more,  it  is  prudent  to  foresee  every  thirg, 
and  it  is  for  this  that  I  mention  such  things.  I 
count,  moreover,  on  their  not  being  realized.  In 
electing  Mr.  Lincoln,  the  United  States  decided 
thus  :  Slavery  will  make  no  more  conquests.  What 
they  have  decided,  they  will  ultimately  maintain, 
even  though  they  should  have  the  air  of  abandoning 
it.  They  have  respected  and  they  will  respect  the 
sovereignty  of  the  States  ;  upon  this  point  they  will 
give  all  the  guarantees  that  may  be  desired,  and 
Congress,  we  have  seen,  has  already  voted  an 
amendment  to  the  Constitution,  designed  to  oiler 
this  basis  of  compromise.  But  it  is  improbable 
that  they  will  go  beyond  this  ;  the  North  must  feel 
that,  of  all  ways  of  terminating  the  present  crisis, 
the  most  fatal  would  be  the  disavowal  of  principles 
and  the  desertion  of  the  flag. 

The  compromises  that  promise  any  thing  more 
than  respect  for  the  sovereignty  of  the  States  in  the 


PROBABLE   CONSEQUENCES   OF   THE  CRISIS.        1Y3 

matter  of  slavery,  promise  more  than  they  could 
perform ;  every  one  feels  this,  in  the  South  as  in 
the  North.  The  policy  of  the  South  forms  a  whole 
of  which  nothing  subsists  if  any  thing  be  re 
trenched,  and  above  all  if  the  complicity  of  the 
Government  ceases  to  be  assured  to  it.  On  the  day 
that  the  South  accepts  any  compromise  whatever, 
it  will  have  renounced,  not  the  maintenance  doubt 
less,  but  the  propagation  of  slavery ;  it  will  have 
renounced  its  rule.  Compromises,  (there  will  be 
such,  perhaps,  let  us  swear  to  nothing  ;  before  or 
after  the  war,  with  the  entire  South,  or  with  a  part 
of  it,)  compromises  will  be  signed  henceforth  with 
out  any  delusion.  The  South  knows,  marvellously 
well,  that  these  compromises  will  bear  little  resem 
blance  to  those  signed  in  former  times.  Those 
marked,  by  their  constantly  increasing  pretension, 
the  upward  march  of  the  South  ;  these  will  mark 
the  phases  of  its  decline.  How  many  changes 
which  can  never  be  retraced !  Jso  more  conquests 
to  promote  slavery,  no  more  reopening  of  the  Afri 
can  slave  trade,  no  more  impunity  secured  to 
those  numerous  slave-ships  which  daily,  to  the 
knowledge  and  in  the  sight  of  all,  for  years  past, 
have  quitted  the  ports  of  the  Confederation  ;  no 
more  chance  of  equalling,  by  the  creation  and  popu- 


174:        PliOBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE    CRISIS. 

lation  of  new  States,  the  rapid  development  of  the 
North;  henceforth  the  question  is  ended,  the  South 
must  be  resigned  to  it:  the  majority  of  the  free 
States  will  become  such  that  it  can  be  contested 
neither  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  nor  in  the 
Senate,  nor  in  the  presidential  election;  the  si - 
premacy  resides  at  the  North,  the  programme  of 
the  South  is  rent  in  a  thousand  pieces. 

Against  this,  all  the  compromises  in  the  worl  1 
can  do  nothing.  If  Mr.  Lincoln  is  the  first  Pres  - 
dent  opposed  to  slavery,  Mr.  Buchanan  is  the  last 
President  favorable  to  slavery  ;  the  American  poli 
cy  is  henceforth  fixed.  Reflect,  in  fact,  on  what 
these  four  years  of  government  will  produce.  Tho 
result  is  so  enormous,  that,  unhappily,  one  might 
be  tempted  to  say  at  Washington  :  "  We  will  do  all 
that  is  wished,  provided  we  preserve  the  handling 
of  affairs." 

The  power  of  a  President  is  doubtless  inconsid 
erable,  but  his  advent  is  that  of  a  party.  This 
party  is  about  to  renew  all  administrations,  great 
and  small ;  the  same  majority  which  lias  elected 
him  will  modify  before  long  the  tendencies  of  the 
courts ;  in  fine,  the  general  affairs  of  the  Union 
will  be  managed  in  a  new  spirit.  It  was  advancing 
in  one  direction,  it  is  about  to  move  in  the  opposite. 


PROBABLE   CONSEQUENCES   OF   THE   CRISIS.        175 

Mr.  Lincoln  is  not  one  to  shut  his  eyes  on  filibus 
tering  attempts  to  strive  to  take  Cuba  for  the  sla 
very  party,  to  permit  States  to  be  carved  out  of 
Mexico,  and  others  to  be  made  ready  by  subdi 
viding  Texas.  The  process  which  is  about  to  be 
accomplished  reminds  me  of  the  measures  taken  to 
combat  a  vast  conflagration :  the  first  thing  done 
is  to  circumscribe  its  locality. 

At  the  end  of  the  four  years  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
administration,  the  flames  which  threatened  to  de 
vour  the  Union  will  be  completely  hemmed  in. 
Considering  the  United  States  as  a  whole,  and  in 
dependently  of  the  incidents  of  separation,  we  are 
justified  in  believing  that  the  respective  number 
of  free  and  of  slave  States  will  leave  no  chance 
for  the  ulterior  extension  of  a  great  scourge.  Do 
we  delude  ourselves  by  thinking  that  the  prog 
ress*  already  begun  in  the  border  States  will  have 
been  accelerated  in  its  course,  and  that  many  of 
them  will  have  freely  passed  over  to  the  side  of 
liberty  ?  Is  it  certain,  moreover,  that  the  hesitation 
of  some  of  the  churches  will  have  ceased,  and  that 
the  influence  of  the  Gospel,  so  decisive  in  America, 
will  have  finally  placed  itself  entire  at  the  service 
of  the  good  cause  ? 

Let  there  be  a  compromise  or  not,  let  the  great 


176        PROBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE    CRISIS. 

secession  of  the  South  be  prevented  or  not,  one  fact 
remains  settled  from  this  time :  the  United  Statas 
were  tottering  on  their  base,  they  have  regained 
their  equilibrium  ;  the  deadly  perils  which  they 
lately  incurred  from  the  plans  of  conquest  of  tic 
South  and  the  indefinite  extension  of  slavery,  are 
at  length  conjured  down  ;  they  have  no  longer  to 
ask  whether,  some  clay,  the  South  having  grown  be 
yond  measure,  secession  must  not  be  effected  by  the 
Xorth,  leaving  in  the  hands  of  the  slaveholders  the 
glorious  name  and  the  starry  banner  of  the  TJnim  . 
I  think  that  I  have  gone  over  the  whole  series 
of  hypotheses  which  offer  any  probability.  I  have 
been  careful  to  adopt  none  of  them,  for  I  make 
no  pretension,  thank  God,  to  read  the  future.  It 
would  be  puerile  to  prognosticate  what  will  hap 
pen,  and  not  less  puerile,  perhaps,  to  describe  it 
from  what  has  happened.  In  the  face  of  the  acci 
dents  in  different  directions  which  are  attracting 
public  attention  and  filling  the  columns  of  newspa 
pers,  I  have  attempted  to  make  a  distinction  be 
tween  what  may  happen  and  what  must  endure. 
The  lasting  consequences  of  the  present  crisis  are 
what  I  proposed  to  investigate  faithfully.  The 
reader  knows  what  are  my  conclusions.  It  may  be 
that  it  will  end  in  the  adoption  of  some  blamable 


PROBABLE   CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE   CRISIS.        177 

compromise ;  but  whatever  may  be  inscribed  in 
it,  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  has  just  written  in 
the  margin  a  note  that  will  annul  the  text.  The 
time  for  certain  concessions  is  past,  and  the  South 
has  no  more  doubts  of  it  than  the  North.  It  may 
be  that  the  slave  States  will  succeed  in  founding 
uieir  deplorable  Confederacy,  but  it  is  impossible 
that  they  should  succeed  in  making  it  live  ;  tliey 
will  perceive  that  it  is  easier  to  adopt  a  compact 
or  to  elect  a  President,  than  to  create,  in  truth, 
in  the  face  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  national 
ity  of  slavery. 

I  have,  therefore,  the  right  to  affirm  that,  what 
ever  may  be  the  appearances  and  incidents  of  the 
I  moment,  one  fact  has  been  accomplished  and  will 
:  subsist :  the  United  States  were  perishing,  and  are 
saved.  Yes,  whatever  may  be  the  hypothesis  on 
which  we  pause,  three  new  and  decisive  facts  ap 
pear  to  our  eyes  :  we  know  that  the  North  hence 
forth  has  the  mastery  ;  we  know  that  the  perils 
which  threaten  the  Union  came  from  the  South  and 
not  from  the  North  ;  we  know  that  the  days  of  the 
"  patriarchal  institution"  are  numbered.  Beneath 
these  three  facts,  it  is  not  difficult  to  perceive  the 
uprising  of  a  great  people. 

The   victory   of  the   North,  the   consciousness 
8* 


178        PROBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE    CKISIS. 

which  it  lias  of  its  strength  and  of  its  fixed  resolu 
tion,  whatever  may  be  the  appearances  to  the  con 
trary,  to  circumscribe  an  evil  which  was  ready  to 
overflow  on  every  side,  is  the  first  fact ;  there  is  no 
need  to  return  to  it. 

As  to  the  second,  Carolina  and  Georgia  h.-.ve 
charged  themselves  with  bringing  it  to  light.  Tl  .ey 
have  proved  by  their  acts  that  abolitionism  1  ad 
been  calumniated  in  accusing  it  of  menacing  'he 
unity  of  the  United  States.  The  secessionist  pas 
sions  have  shown  themselves  in  the  other  camp  ; 
there,  upon  the  mere  news  of  a  regular  election, 
have  been  sacrificed  unhesitatingly  the  greatness, 
and,  it  would  seem,  the  very  existence  of  the  country. 
The  proclamations  from  Charleston,  and  the  shots 
fired  on  the  Federal  flag,  have  apprised  us  of  wliat 
intelligent  observers  suspected  already  :  that  the 
States  for  which  slavery  had  become  a  passion  and 
almost  a  mission,  must  some  day  experience  the 
need  of  procuring  to  such  a  cause  the  security  of 
isolation. 

And  in  acting  in  this  wise,  these  States,  strange 
to  say,  have  themselves  stated  the  problem  of  abo 
lition.  Xo  one  thought  of  it,  it  may  be  said  ; 
every  one  respected  the  constitutional  limits  of  their 
sovereignty.  They  would  not  have  it  thus  ;  they 


PROBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF    THE    CRISIS.        179 

carried  the  question  into  the  territory  of  Federal 
right  and  Federal  relations  ;  they  exclaimed  :  "  Se 
cure  the  extension  of  slavery,  and  perish  the 
United  States !  "  If  the  United  States  had  per 
ished,  there  would  not  have  been  maledictions  deep 
enough  for  those  who  had  committed  such  a  crime. 

O 

The  United  States  will  not  perish ;  but  they  will 
long  remember  with  gratitude  what  they  owe  to 
the  secessionists  of  1860.  "When  the  hour  of  eman 
cipation  shall  have  struck,  and  it  will  strike  some 
day,  the  secessionists  of  1860  will  not  probably 
speak  of  their  rights  to  indemnity  ;  they  have  just 
given  a  quittance  of  it  in  cannon  balls. 

The  third  fact  remains  :  Is  it  true  that,  in  all  the 
hypotheses,  the  cause  of  the  negroes  has  just  real 
ized  such  progress  that  the  ultimate  issue  of  the 
contention  can  no  longer  be  doubtful  ?  This  is 
most  obvious.  Let  there  be  separation  or  not,  sla 
very  has  just  entered  upon  the  road  which  leads  to 
abolition,  more  or  less  rapid,  but  infallible.  If 
there  be  110  separation,  this  immense  progress  will 
be  effected  with  more  wisdom  and  slowness ;  vio 
lent  means  will  be  averted,  the  benevolent  influence 
of  the  Gospel  will  pave  the  way  for  progressive 
and  peaceful  transformation  by  preaching,  to  the 
slaves  as  to  the  masters,  more  of  their  duties  than 


180        PKOBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF    THE    CEISIS. 

of  their  rights.  If  there  be  separation,  emancipa 
tion  will  be  accomplished  much  more  quickly  and 
more  calamitously.  Servile  war  will  break  out  ; 
ultra  abolitionism,  to  which  hitherto  the  prudence 
of  the  North  has  refused  all  real  credit,  will  be  no 
longer  restrained  by  the  prudence  of  a  people  des  - 
rous  of  shunning  bloody  catastrophes  ;  sustained  by 
the  increasing  animosity  which  will  inflame  tli3 
two  Confederacies  against  each  other,  it  will  find 
means  of  introducing  into  the  South  appeals  t  > 
revolt,  and  will  multiply  expeditions  like  that  of 
John  Brown.  4^^ 

But  let  us  leave  these  generalities,  and  examine 
nearer  by,  from  the  stand-point  of  emancipation,  the; 
four  or  five  hypotheses  which  we  have  signalled  our 
most  plainly,  and  between  which  seem  to  lie  the 
chances  of  the  future. 

I  shall  examine  first  of  all  the  one  whose  realiza 
tion  is  evidently  pursued  by  the  able  men  of  the  ex 
treme  South.  The  question  is,  after  having  speedily 
gained  over  the  North,  thanks  to  Mr.  Buchanan,  to 
arrive  as  quickly  as  possible  at  something  which 
shall  have  the  appearance  and  authority  of  a  fact 
accomplished.  Audacity,  and  again  audacity  ;  upon 
this  point,  the  politic  and  the  violent  meet  in  unison 
to-day.  It  has  seceded,  it  has  invaded  the  Federal 


PROBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF    THE    CEISIS.        181 

property,  it  has  trumped  up  a  government,  it  has 
given  itself  a  President,  it  is  about  to  have  an  army, 
it  is  already  attempting  to  represent  itself  officially 
at  the  courts  of  the  great  powers. 

By  the  side  of  audacity,  prudence  has  played  its 
part.  It  has  taken  good  care  not  to  unfurl  its  flag, 
it  has  made  itself  small,  modest,  moderate,  as  much 
so,  at  least,  as  the  passions  of  the  mob  would  per 
mit  ;  it  asked  nothing,  in  truth,  but  to  live  honestly 
in  a  corner  of  the  globe.  "Who  speaks,  then,  of 
conquests  ?  Who  would  wish  to  re-establish  the 
African  slave  trade  on  a  large  scale  ?  Far  from  be 
ing  retrogrades,  the  men  of  the  South  are  cham 
pions  of  progress ;  witness  their  programme  of 
commercial  freedom !  Are  there  no  honest  men  to 
be  found  in  the  Xorth,  to  restrain  Mr.  Lincoln,  and 
to  prevent  him  from  oppressing  them  ?  Are  there 
no  governments  in  Europe  that  can  interpose,  and 
recommend  the  maintenance  of  peace  ?  Is  not  this 
peace,  which  prevents  the  insurrections  of  negroes, 
and  the  destruction  of  cotton,  for  the  interest  of  all  ? 
Why  should  there  not  be  two  Confederacies,  living 
side  by  side,  as  good  friends  ? 

It  is  evident  that  the  able  party  tend  to  this,  and 
that  the  violent  have  allowed  them  to  give,  for  the 
common  interest,  this  subdued  tone  to  the  insurrec- 


182        PKOBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF    THE    CKISIS. 

tionary  movement.  The  able  party  know  too  we  1 
what  war  would  be  to  desire  it.  They  prepare  for  it 
in  the  hope,  if  not  to  avoid  it,  at  least  to  postpone  i  t 
for  the  present,  and  to  obtain  in  behalf  of  Souther  i 
secession,  that  species  of  security  which  is  confer 
red  in  our  times  by  the  deed  accomplished.  Per 
haps  the  United  States,  yielding  to  a  sentiment 
which  certainly  has  something  honorable  in  it,  will 
allow  the  Confederacy  of  the  Gulf  States  to  subsisl, 
rather  than  crush  it,  which  would  be  but  too  easy,  bv 
bringing  upon  it  a  war  which  would  be  accompanied 
by  slave  insurrections.  Let  us  not  be  in  haste  to 
blame  such  a  course  ;  let  us  remember  that  the  whole 
world  is  prompting  in  this  direction,  that  all  the 
counsels  given  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  the  Old  World  as  in 
the  New,  begin  invariably  with  the  words  :  "  Strive- 
to  avoid  civil  war  ;  "  let  us  remember  also  that,  to 
solve  the  American  problem,  much  more  time  will 
be  needed  than  we  imagine  in  Europe  ;  let  us  en 
deavor  to  put  ourselves  in  the  place  of  those  who 
see  things  as  they  are,  and  who  find  themselves  in  ;; 
struggle  with  the  difficulties. 

Patience  will  doubtless  have  here  its  great  in- 
conveniencies  j  the  Confederacy  of  the  cotton  States, 
if  tolerated,  will  seem  the  living  proof  of  the  right 
of  separation  ;  it  will  be  an  asylum  all  prepared,  in 


PROBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE    CKI6IS.        183 

which  the  discontented  border  States  can  take 
refuge  at  need.  Nevertheless  the  question  is  to 
tolerate  this  Confederacy,  but  by  no  means  to  recog 
nize  the  legitimacy  of  the  act  which  gave  it  birth  ; 
the  question  is  to  make  use  of  a  generous  forbear 
ance,  to  which  new  threats  of  secession  will  neces 
sarily  put  an  end.  Then,  is  it  nothing  to  manifest  a 
spirit  of  peace  fitted  to  touch  the  most  prejudiced, 
to  bind  the  majority  of  the  border  States  to  the 
destinies  of  the  Union,  to  give  evidence  of  the  dis 
tinction  which  exists  between  them  and  the  extreme 
South,  to  force  them,  in  fine,  to  declare  themselves  ? 
If  they  surmount  the  present  temptation,  (and  they 
will  never  encounter  a  stronger  one,)  if  they  consent 
to  sacrifice  their  immediate  interests,  and  to  re 
nounce  the  traffic  in  slaves,  which  is  in  danger  of 
ceasing  from  day  to  day  in  case  they  do  not  join 
the  "  Confederate  States ; "  is  such  a  resolution 
nothing  ?  does  it  contain  no  guarantees  for  the  fu 
ture  ?  We  do  not  set  foot  in  the  right  path  with 
impunity  ;  honorable  resolves  always  carry  us  fur 
ther,  thank  God !  than  we  counted  on  going.  Sup 
pose  even  that  the  border  States  which  refuse  to 
unite  with  the  South  design  to  impose  en  the  North 
certain  vexatious  conditions,  they  will  be  none  the 
less  turned  from  their  former  alliances,  they  will 


184:        PROBABLE   CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE    CRISIS. 

have  none  the  less  begun  to  move  in  a  new  direc 
tion.  We  should  do  wrong  if  we  did  not  recognize 
how  honorable  is  the  conduct  of  several  among  them; 
in  watching  over  their  legislatures,  in  enacting  that 
the  vote  of  secession  shall  be  submitted  to  the  rati 
fication  of  the  whole  people,  certain  frontier  States 
seem  to  have  already  shown  themselves  resolved  to 
foil  the  intrigues  at  Charleston. 

The  cause  of  emancipation  takes,  therefore,  a 
very  important  step  in  advance,  in  the  hypothesis 
of  a  Southern  Confederacy  reduced,  or  nearly  so,  to 
the  Gulf  States  alone.  Limited  secession  is  perhaps 
of  all  combinations,  the  one  most  favorable  to  the 
suppression  of  slavery.  Picture  to  yourself,  in  fact, 
what  this  Southern  Confederacy  will  be.  It  will  be 
an  impossible,  short-lived  republic,  the  separation 
of  which  will  one  day  cease,  and  which,  meanwhile, 
will  be  incapable  of  realizing  any  of  its  favorite 
projects.  From  the  first  hour,  the  extreme  South 
found  itself  brought  to  face  a  dilemma  :  either  to 
draw  in  all  the  slave  States,  and  then  to  await  the 
'moment  favorable  to  the  execution  of  its  grandilo 
quent  plans,  to  hasten  towards  its  destiny,  its  ideal, 
to  conquer  territories,  to  people  them  with  negroes, 
and  to  perish  through  the  accomplishment  of  an 
impious  work  ;  or,  to  remain  alone  and  undertake 


PROBABLE   CONSEQUENCES   OF   THE   CRISIS.        185 

nothing,  and  still  perish,  but  this  time  through  im 
potence  to  exist.  "What  is  to  be  done  when  there  is 
only  the  miserable  Confederacy  of  some  thousand 
whites,  the  owners  and  keepers  of  some  hundred 
thousand  blacks  ?  Make  conquests  ?  They  dare 
not.  Open  the  slave  trade  ?  It  would  draw  down 
destruction  upon  them. 

!Now,  mark  that,  in  the  bosom  of  a  Confederacy 
morally  isolated  from  the  entire  world,  receiving 
aid  neither  from  immigrants  nor  capital,  deprived, 
in  a  large  part  at  least,  of  the  fresh  supply  of  negroes 
which  it  formerly  drew  from  the  North,  unable 
even  to  incur  the  risk  of  imitating  Spain,  which 
buys  free  negroes  from  the  slave-hunters  of  the 
African  continent,  not  in  a  condition  to  stop  the 
escapes  which  will  take  place  on  all  her  frontiers, 
the  question  of  slavery  will  proceed  necessarily 
towards  its  solution.  The  extreme  South,  strange 
to  say,  will  find  itself  placed  providentially  as  an 
obstacle  between  the  United  States  and  the  coun 
tries  of  which  it  lately  meditated  the  acquisition. 
The  United  States  will  have  the  advantage  of  being 
unable  even  to  think  of  Cuba,  or  Central  America, 
or  Mexico  ;  they  will  be  delivered  for  a  time  from 
these  baleful  temptations,  and  from  the  States  in 
which  they  met  the  warmest  support.  And,  during 


186        PROBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF    THE   CRISIS. 

this  time,  the  extreme  South  will  be  forced,  in  some 
sort,  to  look  at  the  problem  of  slavery  under  an  as 
pect  before  unknown  to  it. 

Later  will  come  the  shock,  the  postpon2d 
but  inevitable  conflict.  Blockaded  at  the  South, 
blockaded  at  the  North,  blockaded  on  the  African 
side,  undermined  and  torn  by  its  intestine  dri- 
sions,  the  extreme  South  will  have  to  face,  at  o  le 
time  or  another,  the  irresistible  power  of  the  Unitod 
States.  Does  any  one  imagine  by  chance  that  t  ic 
latter  will  forever  relinquish  E~ew  Orleans  and  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  ?  The  more  they  become  elevated 
and  strengthened,  the  more  they  will  be  led,  suy 
rather,  forced,  to  absorb  again  the  portions  of  their 
former  domain  which  have  attempted  to  exist  with 
out  them. 

From  this  time,  the  discussion  relative  to  slavery 
will  assume  in  the  United  States  a  simple  and  de 
cided  bearing.  The  extreme  South,  in  quitting 
them,  will  have  given  them  every  facility  ;  it  will 
have  endowed  them  with  political  homogeiieousness 
and  liberal  majorities.  By  the  mere  effect  of  the 
departure  of  the  senators  and  representatives  of  the 
extreme  South,  the  party  opposed  to  slavery  will 
have  acquired,  at  the  outset,  the  numerical  ma 
jority  which  it  lacked  in  Congress  ;  it  will  be  in  a 


PROBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE   CRISIS.        187 

position  to  ensure  the  passage  of  its  bills,  to  form 
its  administration,  to  constitute  by  degrees  courts 
in  every  respect  favorable  to  its  principles.  Next, 
the  border  States  who  shall  not  have  followed  the 
fortunes  of  the  extreme  South  will  find  themselves 
bound  to  those  of  the  Xorth,  associated  with  its  in 
terests,  open  to  its  ideas  ;  and  it  is  a  fixed  fact  that 
several  will  not  be  long  in  completing  the  work  of 
liberty  already  begun  among  them,  and  thus  be 
coming,  with  their  rich  and  extensive  Territories,  of 
the  number  of  those  fortunate  States  in  which  the 
suppression  of  slavery  gives  the  signal  for  the  fruit 
ful  invasion  of  immigrants,  for  agricultural  prog 
ress,  for  wealth,  and  for  credit.  In  this  manner 
the  "  patriarchal  institution  "  will  disappear  peace 
ably  from  the  intermediate  region,  while  it  will  be 
threatened  by  more  terrible  shocks  in  the  tropical 
region. 

This  is  a  chance  which  is  common  to  limited 
and  to  total  secession,  but  which  is  still  more  una 
voidable  in  the  last.  Face  to  face  with  the  miser 
able  Confederacy  of  the  extreme  South,  the  United 
States  can  afford  to  be  patient ;  face  to  face  with  the 
Confederacy  comprising  all  the  slave  States,  (or, 
which  means  the  same,  face  to  face  with  two  distinct 
Confederacies,  comprising,  the  one  the  cotton  States, 


188        PKOBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE    CRISIS. 

the  other  the  border  States,  yet  united  against  the 
North  through  an  old  instinct  of  complicity,)  the 
attitude  of  the  United  States,  as  every  one  foresees, 
will  inevitably  be  more  hostile.  Total  secession  it 
self  can  be  born  only  from  a  sentiment  of  declared 
hostility;  it  amounts  to  a  declaration  of  war.  Sup 
pose  that  Mr.  Lincoln  rejects  the  advice  of  those  of  his 
cabinet  who  wish  him  to  accept  the  fact  of  secession  ; 
suppose  that,  while  treating  the  South  with  gen  le- 
ness,  and  striving  to  spare  it  the  horrors  of  an 
armed  strife,  he  persists  in  protecting  the  rights  of 
the  Confederation,  and  securing  to  it,  by  a  maritime 
blockade,  the  collection  of  taxes  ;  suppose  that  the 
blockade  is  organized  from  South  Carolina  to  1he 
Rio  Grande,  supported  by  Forts  Fickens,  Jefferson, 
and  Taylor,  which  will  have  been  revictualled  at  all 
costs  after  the  forced  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter  ; 
suppose  that,  in  this  manner,  watch  is  kept  over  the 
ports  of  Charleston,  Savannah,  Mobile,  and  New 
Orleans,  may  it  not  happen  that  the  insurrectional 
government  at  Montgomery  will  decide  to  effect  a 
march  on  Washington?  Is  it  not  probable  that 
North  Carolina,  Virginia,  and  Maryland  will  allow 
themselves  to  be  crossed  without  saying  a  word  ? 
More  than  this,  are  we  not  justified  in  believing 
that  these  States,  and  with  them  a  considerable 


PKOBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE   CRISIS.         189 

number  of  the  central  ones,  rallied  around  their  an 
cient  banner  by  the  very  approach  of  peril,  will 
make  common  cause  with  the  slave  Confederacy  ? 
In  such  a  case,  how  avert  the  chances  of  a  direful 
conflict  ?  TTill  the  United  States  carry  patience 
with  respect  to  the  aggressors,  the  fear  of  giving  a 
signal  of  ruin,  deference  to  the  counsels  lavished  on 
them  perhaps,  so  far  as  to  refuse  to  return  a  violent 
attack,  and  to  consent  to  the  ravishment  of  their 
capital  ?  It  is  hard  to  believe.  If  the  South  make 
the  attack,  the  war  will  break  out,  negro  revolts  will 
commence,  and  the  border  States  will  be  exposed 
to  the  first  blow. 

But  admit  that  they  succeed  in  preventing  an 
immediate  explosion,  the  mere  fact  of  a  total  seces 
sion,  and  of  the  formation  of  two  Confederacies, 
almost  equal,  (in  appearance  at  least,)  will  permit  no 
one  to  count  on  the  prolonged  preservation  of  peace. 
What  repulsion,  what  grievances  will  be  found  in 
all  relations,  in  all  questions !  And  from  a  grievance 
to  war,  from  war  to  negro  insurrections,  what  will 
be  the  distance,  I  ask  ?  The  South  will  be  then  an 
immense  powder  magazine,  to  which  the  first  spark 
will  set  fire.  And  the  South  will  not  lose  its  habits 
of  arrogance,  it  will  be  quarrelsome  as  always. 
Has  it  not  already  announced  in  its  journals  that,  on 


190        PKOBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE   CKISIS. 

the  first  encouragement  given  to  its  fugitive  slaves. 
it  will  draw  the  sword  ?  ISTow,  such  encouragemsnt 
certainly  will  not  be  wanting.  The  South  does  lot 
know  at  the  present  time  how  much  the  North,  of 
which  it  complains,  contributes  to  prevent  the  es 
capes  which  it  fears.  The  Federal  Government  is 
at  hand  to  oppose  them,  in  some  measure  at  ler.st. 
When  the  preventive  obstacle  shall  have  disappear 
ed,  the  South  will  see  with  what  rapidity  its  slavery 
will  glide  away  on  every  point  of  its  frontier ;  it 
will  see  its  liappy  negroes  ready  to  brave  a  thou 
sand  perils  rather  than  remain  under  its  law.  Alas ! 
it  will  see  many  other  proofs  of  their  devotion  to 
servitude.  I  do  not  like  to  bring  bloody  images,  at 
w4iich  I  shudder,  too  often  before  the  eyes  of  the 
reader ;  it  must  be  said,  notwithstanding,  while  it  is 
yet  time,  that  the  general  Confederacy  of  the  South, 
intoxicated  with  its  projects,  resolved  to  increase 
its  possessions,  forced  to  demand  from  the  African 
slave  trade  the  means  of  rcpeopling  its  States,  de 
populated  by  escape,  and  to  install  slavery  into  new 
territories,  will  draw  upon  it,  not  only  the  wrath  of 
the  United  States,  but  the  indignation  of  the  entire 
world.  And  what  misery,  what  ruin  will  ensue 
from  the  first  conflict ! 

I  like  better  to  fix  my  thoughts  on  the  third 


PROBABLE   CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE    CRISIS.         191 

hypothesis — that  of  a  return  to  the  now  broken 
Union.  Taught  by  experience,  seeing  how  little 
weight  it  has  in  the  world  since  its  separation  from 
the  United  States,  poor,  weak,  divided,  compre 
hending  the  impossibility  of  realizing  its  true  plans 
without  exposing  itself  to  calamities,  losing  its  re 
sources,  one  after  another,  even  to  the  cultivation 
of  cotton,  which  also  demands  credit  and  security, 
incapable  of  preventing  the  flight  of  its  slaves,  and 
not  daring  to  brave  that  great  power  of  public 
opinion  which  will  interdict  it  the  African  trade, 
the  Southern  Confederacy,  exhausted  and  dismayed, 
will  perhaps  one  day  prefer  returning  to  the  bosom 
of  the  Union,  to  plunging  into  the  extremity  of  mis 
fortune.  In  this  case,  again,  the  question  of  affran 
chisement  will  have  made  vast  strides.  The  United 
States  will  have  taken  a  decided  position  in  the 
absence  of  the  South,  which  its  return  cannot  de 
stroy  ;  convictions  will  be  fixed,  the  final  impulse 
will  have  been  given,  and  to  this  impulse,  the  South, 
come  to  repentance,  will  know  that  nothing  is  left 
it  but  to  submit. 

Finally  comes  a  last  hypothesis,  which  I  mention 
because  it  is  necessary  to  foresee  every  possibility. 
Under  the  combined  influence  of  the  border  States 
and  the  States  of  the  North,  equally  desirous  of 


192        PROBABLE    CONSEQUENCES    OF   THE   CRISIS. 

maintaining  the  Union,  the  attempts  of  the  extreme 
South  will  have  failed,  its  secession  will  have  lasted 
only  a  few  months,  and  a  compromise  will  have 
served  to  cover  its  retreat.  But  what  compron  ise 
could  compensate  for  a  fact  so  important  as  the 
election  of  Mr.  Lincoln?  It  has  a  deep  significance 
which  no  compromise  will  remove;  it  signifies  that 
the  conquests  of  slavery  are  ended.  This  proven,  the 
future  is  easy  to  foresee :  increasing  majorities  in 
the  North,  increasing  disproportion  of  the  two  pj.rts 
of  the  Confederation.  At  the  end  of  the  four  years 
of  a  Lincoln  administration,  the  slave  States  will 
have  lost  all  hope  of  struggling,  with  their  eijcht 
thousand  whites  charged  with  keeping  four  millions 
of  blacks,  against  the  twenty  millions  of  citizens 
that  inhabit  the  free  States.  Let  us  add  that,  the 
future  once  fixed  and  the  question  of  preponderance 
once  resolved,  many  passions  will  moderate  by  de 
grees.  The  number  of  free  States  will  increase,  not 
only  by  the  settling  of  new  territories,  but  also  by 
the  affranchisement  of  the  thinly  scattered  slaves, 
becoming  continually  more  thinly  scattered,  of  Mary 
land,  of  Delaware,  or  of  Missouri.  We  can  even  in  >w 
describe  this  affranchisement,  so  well  is  the  Ameri 
ca/ft  method  known.  It  consists,  as  every  one  knows, 
in  emancipating  the  children  that  are  to  be  born. 


PROBABLE   CONSEQUENCES    OF  THE    CRISIS.        193 

This  is  the  method  which  has  been  uniformly  ap 
plied  in  the  Northern  States,  and  which  will  be 
doubtless  applied  some  day  in  the  border  States, 
provided,  however,  civil  war  does  not  come  to  ac 
complish  a  very  different  emancipation — emancipa 
tion  by  the  rising  of  the  slaves.  There  will  be 
nothing  of  this,  I  hope ;  pacific  progress  will  have 
its  way.  We  shall  then  see  these  intermediate 
States,  one  after  the  other,  regaining  life  in  the 
same  time  as  liberty :  they  will  become  transformed 
as  if  touched  by  the  wand  of  a  fairy. 

Such  are  the  future  prospects  which  offer  them 
selves  to  us.  If  we  remember,  besides,  the  move 
ment  which  is  beginning  to  be  wrought  in  the 
religious  societies  and  the  churches — a  movement 
which  cannot  fail  to  be  soon  complete,  we  shall 
know  on  what  to  rely  concerning  the  fate  which 
awaits  a  social  iniquity  against  which  are  at  once 
conspiring  the  follies  of  its  friends,  and  the  indigna 
tion  of  its  foes. 


CHAPTEK   IX. 

COEXISTENCE  OF  THE  TWO  RACES  AFTER   EMANCIPATION. 

SOMETHING  more  difficult  to  foresee  than  die 
suppression,  henceforth  certain,  of  slavery,  is  :he 
consequence  of  this  suppression.  The  problem  of 
the  coexistence  of  the  two  races  rests  at  the  present 
hour  with  a  crushing  weight  on  the  thoughts  of  all ; 
it  mingles  poignant  doubts  with  the  hopes  of  some, 
it  exasperates  the  resistance  of  others.  Is  it  true 
that  emancipation  would  be  the  signal  of  a  struggle 
for  extermination  ?  Is  there  not  room  upon  Amer 
ican  soil  for  free  blacks  by  the  side  of  free  whites  ? 
I  do  not  conceal  from  myself  that  there  is  here  an 
accredited  prejudice,  an  admitted  opinion  which, 
perhaps  more  than  any  thing  else,  trammels  the 
progress  of  the  United  States.  Let  us  attempt  to 
estimate  it. 

M.  de  Tocqueville,  who  has  judged  America 
with  so  sure  an  eye,  has  been,  notwithstanding, 


THE    TWO  RACES    AFTER   EMANCIPATION.  195 

mistaken  upon  some  points ;  his  warmest  admirers 
must  admit  it.  Writing  at  an  epoch  when  the 
great  results  of  English  emancipation  had  not  jet 
been  produced,  he  was  led  to  frame  that  formi 
dable  judgment  of  which  so  much  advantage  has 
been  taken  :  "  Hitherto,  wherever  the  whites  have 
been  the  more  powerful,  they  have  held  the  negroes 
in  degradation  and  slavery ;  wherever  the  negroes 
have  been  the  more  powerful,  they  have  destroyed 
the  whites.  This  is  the  only  account  which  can 
ever  be  opened  between  the  two  races." 

Another  account  is  opened,  thank  God,  and  no 
one  will  rejoice  at  it  more  sincerely  than  M.  de 
Tocqueville — he  who  is  so  generous,  and  whose 
abolition  sentiments  are  certainly  no  mystery  to 
any  of  his  colleagues  of  the  Chamber.  But  his 
opinion  remains  in  his  book,  and  every  one  re 
peats  after  him,  that  the  blacks  and  the  whites  can 
not  live  together  on  the  same  soil,  unless  the  latter 
be  subject  to  the  former. 

I  repeat,  that  at  the  time  at  which  he  wrote,  he 
had  reason,  or  at  least  known  facts  gave  him  reason, 
to  say  this  ;  the  liberty  of  the  blacks  had  then  but 
one  name — St.  Domingo.  To-day,  the  victories  of 
Christian  emancipation  have  come,  to  contrast  with 
the  catastrophes  provoked  by  impenitent  despotism. 


19G        COEXISTENCE  OF  THE  TWO  RACES 

The  English  Colonies  bear  a  striking  analogy 
to  the  Southern  States  of  the  Union.  The  blacks 
there  are  numerous,  more  numerous  even  in  p  x> 
portion  to  the  whites  than  in  the  Carolinas  or 
Florida.  The  climate  is  even  more  scorching,  a  ad 
the  cultures  demand  still  more  imperiously  the  la 
bor  of  the  blacks.  As  to  the  prejudices  of  the  m  is- 
ters,  I  dare  affirm  that  the  planters  of  the  Continent 
and  those  of  the  Antilles  have  not  long  had  any 
thing  with  which  to  reproach  each  other,  Not 
withstanding,  what  has  happened  in  the  Antilles? 
Not  only  has  liberty  been  proclaimed — this  was  the 
act  of  the  metropolis — but  the  coexistence  of  races 
has  subsisted.  It  is  to  this  point  that  I  claim  at 
tention.  They,  the  whites  and  the  blacks,  alike 
free,  invested  with  the  same  privileges,  exercising 
the  same  rights,  encountering  each  other  in  the 
ranks  of  the  militia,  in  the  magistracy,  and  even  in 
the  seats  of  the  colonial  assemblies,  admirably  ac 
cept  this  life  in  common.  And  the  whites  there, 
observe,  are  Anglo-Saxons  ;  that  is,  they  belong  to 
that  race  which  is  declared  incapable  of  enduring 
free  blacks  in  its  neighborhood. 

It  is  necessary  to  appeal  sometimes  from  those 
axioms  so  boldly  laid  down,  which  serve  us  to  make 
inflexible  laws  for  that  which  must  be  subject  in  an 


AFTER    EMANCIPATION.  197 

infinite  measure  to  the  mobility  of  circumstances  and 
influences.  The  influence  of  the  Gospel,  especially, 
is  a  fact,  the  scope  of  which  is  never  sufficiently 
measured.  It  has  created  in  the  Antilles  a  negro 
population  which  maintains  its  equality  face  to  face 
with  the  whites,  yet  which  does  not  entirely  reject 
their  patronage  ;  a  dependent  population  which  is 
also  a  free  population,  free  in  the  most  absolute 
sense  of  the  word.  The  blacks  of  the  Antilles  la 
bor  on  the  plantations,  and  secure  the  success  of 
large  plantations ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  they  them 
selves  become  landholders,  forming  by  degrees  one 
of  the  happiest  and  most  remarkable  classes  of 
peasants  that  ever  existed.  Their  little  fields,  their 
pretty  villages,  manifest  real  prosperity  ;  and  there 
is  something  among  them  that  is  worth  more  than 
prosperity,  there  is  moral  progress,  the  development 
of  intellect,  and  the  elevation  of  souls. 

It  will  be  demanded  of  us  if,  in  the  midst  of 
so  much  progress,  the  production  of  sugar  has  not 
suffered.  I  answer  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  has  in 
creased.  It  had  been  predicted  that  emancipation 
would  be  a  death-blow  to  the  British  colonies.  I 
suspect  that  many  people  are  even  yet  persuaded 
of  it ;  now,  in  spite  of  the  faults  committed  by  the 
planters,  who  have  neglected  nothing  to  disgust 


198  COEXISTENCE    OF    THE    TWO    RACES 

the  negroes  with  labor  and  to  drive  them  from 
their  old  mills,  they  are  found  to  return  to  them, 
contenting  themselves  with  wages  that  scarcely  rise 
above  an  average  of  a  shilling  a  day.  If  we  com-* 
pare  the  two  last  censuses  of  liberty  with  the  tvro 
last  years  of  slavery,  we  shall  discover  that  the 
total  production  of  sugar  has  increased  in  the  colo 
nies  in  which  emancipation  was  effected  in  1834:. 
And  they  have  not  only  had  to  endure  this  crisis 
of  emancipation,  but  also  another  crisis  still  mo  -e 
formidable,  that  of  the  sudden  introduction  of  free 
trade  in  1834.  The  colonial  sugars,  exposed  to  com 
petition  with  the  sugar  produced  at  Havana  and 
elsewhere  by  slave  labor,  experienced  a  prodigious 
decline.  There  was  cause  to  believe  that  the  pro 
duction  was  about  to  be  destroyed  ;  it  has  risen 
again,  notwithstanding,  and  the  English  Antilles, 
with  their  free  negroes  and  their  unprotected  sugar, 
forced  to  face  entire  liberty  in  all  its  forms,  import 
to-day  into  the  metropolis  nearly  a  million  more 
hogsheads  than  at  the  moment  when  the  crisis  of 
free  trade  broke  forth. 

Liberty  works  miracles.  We  always  distrust 
her,  and  she  replies  to  our  suspicions  by  benefits. 
The  English  Antilles,  which,  during  the  last  thirty 
years,  have  had  to  surmount,  besides  the  two  crises 


AFTER    KMAXCTPATTOX.  199 

of  emancipation  and  free  trade,  the  earthquake  of 
1840  and  six  consecutive  years  of  drought ;  the 
English  Antilles,  which  have  had  to  liquidate  their 
old  debts,  and  to  repair  the  ruin  accruing  from  the 
failure  of  the  bank  of  Jamaica,  are  now  in  an  atti 
tude  which  proves  that  they  have  no  fears  for  the 
future  and  scarcely  regret  the  past. 

Under  slavery,  the  Antilles  were  hastening  to 
their  ruin  ;  with  liberty,  they  have  become  one  of 
the  richest  channels  of  exportation  which  England 
possesses  ;  under  slavery,  they  could  not  have  sup 
ported  the  shock  of  free  trade ;  with  liberty,  they 
have  gained  this  new  battle  :  such  are  the  net  pro 
ceeds  of  experience.  If  we  still  have  doubts,  let  us 
compare  Dutch  Guiana,  which  holds  slavesj  to  Eng 
lish  Guiana,  which  has  emancipated  them.  The 
resources  of  these  two  countries  are  almost  equal ; 
English  Guiana  is  progressing,  while  the  cultures 
of  Surinam  are  forsaken  ;  three-fourths  of  its  plan 
tations  are  already  abandoned,  and  the  rest  will 
follow. 

But  the  question  of  profits  and  losses  is  not  the 
only  one  here,  I  think,  and  after  having  computed 
the  proceeds  of  sugar,  after  having  shown  that  in 
this  respect  English  emancipation  is  in  rule,  it  is 
allowable  to  mention  also  another  kind  of  result, 


200        COEXISTENCE  OF  THE  TWO  KACES 

Look  at  these  pretty  cottages,  this  neat  and  almost 
elegant  furniture,  these  gardens,  this  general  air  D£ 
comfort  and  civilization ;  question  these  blacks, 
whose  physical  appearance  has  become  modified 
already  under  the  influence  of  liberty,  these  blacks, 
who  decreased  rapidly  in  numbers  during  tie 
epoch  of  slavery,  and  wrho  have  begun  to  increase, 
on  the  contrary,  since  their  affranchisement ;  th  yy 
will  tell  us  that  they  are  happy.  Some  have  I  e- 
coine  landowners,  and  labor  on  their  own  account, 
(this  is  not  a  crime,  I  imagine  ;)  others  unite  to 
strengthen  large  plantations,  or  perhaps  to  carry  to 
the  works  of  rich  planters  the  canes  gathered  by 
them  on  their  own  grounds  ;  some  are  merchants, 
many  hire  themselves  out  as  farmers.  Whatever 
may  be  the  faults  of  some  individuals,  the  ensemble 
of  free  negroes  has  merited  the  testimony  rendered 
in  1857  by  the  Governor  of  Tobago  :  "  I  deny  that 
our  blacks  of  the  country  are  of  indolent  habits. 
So  industrious  a  class  of  inhabitants  does  not  exist 
in  the  world." 

An  admirable  spectacle,  and  one  which  the  his 
tory  of  mankind  presents  to  us  too  rarely,  is  that 
of  a  degraded  population  elevating  itself  more  and 
more,  and  placing  itself  on  a  level  with  those  who 
before  despised  it.  Concubinage,  so  general  in 


AFTEli    EMANCIPATION.  201 

times  of  servitude  as  to  give  rise  to  the  famous 
axiom,  "  JS"egroes  abhor  marriage,"  is  now  replaced 
by  regular  unions. .  In  becoming  free,  the  negroes 
have  learned  to  respect  themselves  :  the  unanimous 
reports  of  the  governors  mark  the  progress  of  their 
habits  of  sobriety.  Crimes  have  greatly  diminished 
among  them.  They  are  polite  and  well  brought 
up,  falling  even  into  the  excess  of  exaggerated  cour 
tesy.  They  respect  the  aged  :  if  an  old  man  passes 
through  the  streets,  the  children  rise  and  cease  their 
play. 

These  children  are  assiduously  sent  to  schools, 
the  support  of  which  depends,  in  a  great  part,  upon 
the  voluntary  gifts  of  the  negroes.  Grateful  to  the 
Gospel  which  has  set  them  free,  the  former  slaves 
have  become  passionately  attached  to  their  pastors  ; 
their  first  resources  are  consecrated  to  churches,  to 
schools,  and  sometimes,  also,  to  distant  missions, 
to  the  evangelization  of  that  Africa  which  they  re 
member  to  do  it  good.  AYe  should  be  at  once  sur 
prised  and  humiliated,  were  we  to  compare  the 
much-vaunted  gifts  of  our  charity  with  those  of 
these  poor  people,  these  freed  men  of  yesterday, 
whom  we  think  that  we  may  rightfully  treat  with 
disdain. 

Thanks  to  the  Gospel,  and  it  is  to  this  that  I 
9* 


202  COEXISTENCE    OF    THE    TWO    RACES 

return,  tlie  problem  of  the  coexistence  of  races  is 
resolved  in  tlie  most  pacific  manner  in  the  Antilles. 
Among  freemen,  however  little,  these  freemen  may 
be  Christianized,  specific  inequalities  become  speed 
ily  effaced,  and  the  prejudice  of  skin  is  not  found 
to  be  ultimately  as  insurmountable  as  we  Inue 
been  told.  In  these  English  colonies,  which  aie 
true  republics,  governing  themselves,  and  which*  also 
remind  us,  through  this  feature,  of  the  Southern 
States,  the  blacks  have  come  to  be  accepted  as  fe'- 
low-citizens.  They  practise  the  liberal  professions  ; 
they  are  electors  and  often  elected,  for  they  form 
of  themselves  alone  one-fifth  of  the  Colonial  Assem 
bly  at  Jamaica  ;  they  are  officers  of  the  police  and 
the  militia,  and  their  authority  never  fails  to  bo 
recognized  by  all.  I  named  Jamaica  just  now. 
Some  may  seek  to  bring  it  as  an  argument  against 
me.  The  fact  is,  that  this  great  island  has  seemed 
to  form  an  exception  to  the  general  prosperity  ; 
considerable  fortunes  have  been  sunk  there,  and 
the  transformation  has  been  slower  and  more  pain 
ful  there  than  elsewhere.  But,  when  they  arm 
themselves  with  these  circumstances,  they  forget 
two  things  :  first,  that  the  causes  of  the  malady 
were  anterior  to  emancipation  ;  next,  that  the  cure 
has  come  from  emancipation  itself.  Before  eman- 


AFTER    EMANCIPATION.  203 

cipation,  Jamaica  was  insolvent,  her  plantations 
were  mortgaged  beyond  their  value,  and  its  plant 
ing  was  threatened  in  other  ways  far  more  than 
now.  Do  you  know  what  has  since  happened ! 
Difficulties  which  appeared  insoluble  have  been 
resolved ;  to-day,  the  cape  is  doubled,  and  men 
navigate  in  peace.  At  the  present  time,  Jamaica 
comprises  two  or  three  hundred  villages,  inhabited 
by  free  negroes ;  the  latter  are  willing  to  work ; 
for,  according  to  the  latest  information,  (February, 
1861,)  the  price  of  daily  labor  decreases  instead  of 
rising.  Among  these  free  negroes,  there  are  not 
less  than  ten  thousand  landholders,  and  three-eighths 
of  the  cultivated  soil  is  in  their  hands.  They  have 
established  sugar- mills  every  where,  imperfect,  rude, 
yet  working  in  a  passable  manner  ;  and  mills  of 
this  sort  are  numbered  by  thousands.  The  middle 
class  of  color  thus  grows  richer  day  by  day ;  the 
families  that  compose  it  all  own  a  horse  or  a  mule ; 
they  have  their  bank  books  and  their  accounts 
with  the  savings  banks.  Lastly,  which  is  of  more 
value  than  all  else,  the  free  negroes  of  Jamaica 
have  built  more  than  two  hundred  chapels,  and  as 
many  schools.  At  the  very  moment  when  I  write 
these  lines,  an  enthusiastic  religious  movement  is 
prevailing  among  them  ;  the  rum-shops  are  aban- 


204:  COEXISTENCE    OF    THE    TWO    RACES 

doned,  the  most  degraded  classes  enter  in  their  turn 
the  path  of  reformation. 

I  should  have  been  glad  to  cite  our  own  colonies 
instead  of  confining  myself  to  the  English  islands. 
I  have  been  prevented  from  this,  not  only  by  tl-e 
memory  of  the  conflagrations  of  1859  at  Martini qu  3, 
and  of  the  state  of  siege  which  it  became  necessary 
to  proclaim  there,  but,  above  all,  by  the  circum 
stance  that  the  liberty  of  our  former  slaves  h?s 
been  too  often  restrained  by  means  of  the  vagabond 
regulations,  that  labor  has  continued  to  be  imposed 
on  them  to  a  certain  point ;  that  the  parcelling  out 
of  property  has  been  trammelled  by  fiscal  meas 
ures  ;  that,  moreover,  it  is  less  the  labor  of  our  for 
mer  slaves  than  of  the  Coolies  and  others  employed, 
which  has  secured  the  success  of  our  experiment ; 
whence  it  follows  that  this  success  is  far  from  being 
as  conclusive  as  that  which  has  been  obtained  else 
where  under  the  system  of  full  liberty.  Neverthe 
less,  our  success,  which  is  no  less  real,  signifies 
something  also.  If  we  have  not  yet  those  little 
free  villages,  that  class  of  small  negro  landholders 
of  which  I  just  spoke,  we  have,  like  the  English, 
free  negroes  in  our  militia  and  in  our  marine  ;  like 
them,  we  have  had  our  elections,  and  all  classes  of 
the  population  have  taken  part  in  them  ;  like  them, 


AFTEK   EMANCIPATION.  205 

and  perhaps  in  a  greater  degree,  we  have  increased 
our  sugar  production  since  emancipation.  It  is 
true  that  the  crisis  of  free  trade  has  not  yet  passed 
among  us,  and  that  we  cannot  know  how  this  would 
be  supported  by  our  colonial  sugars.  But  it  will  not 
be  long  before  we  shall  be  informed  on  this  point : 
by  an  act  which  we  cannot  but  applaud,  and  which 
continues  the  work  it  has  undertaken,  the  French 
government  has  just  suppressed  the  protection  con 
tinued  hitherto  to  our  planters.  If,  ere  long,  as  it 
is  justifiable  to  hope,  they  are  delivered  from  the 
charges  of  the  colonial  system,  whose  advantages 
they  have  lost,  we  shall  see  them  struggle,  and  suc 
cessfully,  I  am  convinced,  against  the  Spanish 
sugars  produced  by  slave  labor. 

It  will  be,  perhaps,  maintained,  that  the  anti 
pathy  of  race  is  stronger  in  the  United  States  than 
elsewhere,  and  that  the  Americans,  in  this  respect, 
are  inferior  to  the  English.  I  am  as  conscious  as 
any  one  else  of  those  infamous  proceedings  tow 
ards  free  negroes  which  are  the  crime  of  the  Korth, 
a  crime  no  less  odious  than  that  of  the  South. 
What  conscience  is  not  aroused  at  the  thought  of 
those  prejudices  of  skin  which  do  not  permit  blacks 
to  sit  by  the  side  of  whites,  in  schools,  churches,  or 
public  vehicles  ?  Only  the  other  day,  nothing  less 


206       COEXISTENCE  OF  THE  TWO  RACES 

than  a  denunciation  in  open  parliament  was  needed 
to  begin  the  destruction,  by  a  public  rebuke,  of  the 
classification  which  is  being  made  on  the  English 
steamers  themselves  between  Liverpool  and  New- 
York.  There  are  some  new  States  which  purely 
and  simply  exclude  free  negroes  from  their  Terri 
tory  ;  those  which  do  not  exclude  them  from  tl  e 
Territory,  repulse  them  from  the  ballot-box.  Tl  e 
injustice,  in  fine,  is  as  gross,  as  crying,  as  it  is  pos 
sible  to  imagine. 

Must  we  conclude  from  this  that  the  co-exist 
ence  of  races,  possible  elsewhere,  is  impossible  in  the 
United  States  ?  I  distrust  those  sweeping  assertions 
which  resolve  problems  at  one  stroke ;  I  refuse,  above 
all,  to  admit  so  easily  that  iniquity  must  be  maintain  ed 
for  the  sole  reason  that  it  exists,  and  that  it  suffices 
to  say  :  "  I  am  thus  made  ;  what  would  you  have  ? 
I  cannot  change  myself,"  to  abstract  one's  self 
from  the  accomplishment  of  the  most  elementary 
duty.  To  endure  negroes  at  one's  side,  to  respect 
their  independence,  to  abstain  from  wrongs  towards 
them,  to  consent  to  the  full  exercise  of  their  rights, 
'is  an  elementary  duty  ;  Christian  duty,  I  need  not 
say,  demands  something  better. 

Does  this  mean  that  we  are  to  set  ourselves  up 
as  judges,  and  brand  as  wretches  all  those  who  thus 


AFTER   EMANCIPATION.  207 

mistake  the  laws  of  charity  and  justice  ?  I  fear 
much  that,  in  their  place,  we  would  do  precisely  as 
they.  Living  in  the  South,  w.e  would  have  slaves, 
and  would  defend  slavery  to  the  last ;  living  in  the 
Xorth,  we  would  tread  under  foot  the  free  colored 
class.  Is  there  then  neither  the  true,  nor  the  false, 
nor  justice,  nor  injustice  ?  God  forbid  !  The  just 
and  the  true  remain  ;  iniquity  should  be  condemned 
without  pity  ;  but  we  are  bound  to  be  more  indul 
gent  towards  men  than  towards  things.  We  are 
bound  to  remember  that  the  influence  of  surround 
ings  is  enormous,  and  that,  if  crimes  are  always 
without  excuse,  there  are  many  excusable  criminals. 
When  we  examine  men  by  the  prejudice  of  skin, 
such  as  prevails  in  the  United  States,  we  are  not 
long  in  discovering  that  it  rests  in  great  part  on  a 
misunderstanding :  men  mistake  coexistence  for 
amalgamation.  I  do  not  fear  to  affirm  that  the  sec 
ond  would  be  as  undesirable  as  the  first  would  be  de 
sirable.  Why  dream  of  blending  or  of  assimilating 
the  two  races  ?  Why  pursue  as  an  ideal  frequent 
marriages  between  them, -and  the  formation  of  a 
third  race  :  that  of  mulattoes  ?  America  does  right 
to  resist  such  ideas,  and  to  inscribe  her  testimony 
against  such  a  future,  evidently  very  little  in  con 
formity  with  the  designs  of  God. 


208  COEXI6TKNCE    OF    THE    TWO    KACES 

But  coexistence  by  no  means  draws  amalgama 
tion  in  its  train.  On  this  point,  also,  experience 
has  spoken.  In  the  English  colonies,  the  liberty  of 
the  blacks  is  'entire,  the  legal  equality  of  the  two 
races  is  not  contested,  public  manners  have  shaped 
themselves  to  that  mutual  consideration  without 
which  they  could  not  live  together  ;  yet  neither 
amalgamation  nor  assimilation  is  in  question,  and 
the  aristocracy  of  skin  remains  what  it  should  be,  a 
lasting  distinction,  accepted  on  both  sides,  between 
races  which  are  not  designed  to  mingle  together.  I 
do  not  know  that  many  marriages  are  contracted 
between  the  whites  and  the  negresses  of  Jamaica, 
and  I  believe  that  the  class  of  mulattoes  increases 
much  more  rapidly  under  slavery  than  with  liberty. 
Look  in  this  respect  at  what  takes  place  even  now 
in  the  United  States  :  as  quadroons  sell  better  than 
blacks,  mixtures  of  white  or  almost  white  slaves 
abound  there,  and  the  unhappy  women  who  refuse 
to  lend  themselves  to  certain  combinations  are  often 
whipped  in  punishment. 

"With  liberty,  each  race  can  at  least  remain  by  it 
self;  with  it,  there  can  be  co-existence  without  amalga 
mation  ;  both  mingling  and  hostility  can  be  prevent 
ed.  This  is  the  more  easy,  inasmuch  as  the  negroes, 
with  the  gentleness  of  their  race,  willingly  accept 


AFTER    EMANCIPATION.  209 

the  second  place,  and  by  no  means  demand  what  we 
insist  on  refusing  them.  Let  their  liberty  be  com 
plete,  let  legal  equality  and  friendly  relations  be 
maintained,  and  they  will  ask  no  more. 

But  they  will  ask  no  less,  and  they  are  right.  I 
do  not  understand,  in  truth,  why  so  harmless  a  co 
existence  should  be  so  long  repulsed  by  the  en 
lightened  people  of  the  United  States.  There  are 
negroes  in  Spanish  America  who  have  reached  the 
highest  grades  of  the  army,  and  who  show  as  much 
intelligence,  decorum,  and  dignity  in  command  as 
white  men  could  do.  I  myself  have  seen  at  Paris, 
a  clergyman  of  ebony  blackness,  who  was  really 
the  most  distinguished,  unexceptionable  man  that  it 
was  possible  to  meet ;  he  was  a  remarkable  scholar, 
and  had  received  the  title  of  doctor  from  several 
European  universities. 

In  fact,  the  negroes  are  our  fellows  and  our 
equals  much  more  than  we  imagine;  they  adapt 
themselves  better  than  the  Indians  to  our  civiliza 
tion.  They  seek  to  be  instructed,  and  not  only  do 
the  free  blacks  of  the  English  islands  hasten,  as  we 
have  seen,  to  provide  themselves  with  teachers,  but 
even  those  of  the  United  States,  crushed  as  they  are 
by  contemptuous  treatment,  neglect  no  means  of 
introducing  their  children  into  the  schools,  where 


210  COEXISTENCE    OF    THE    TWO    KACES 

is  found  one-ninth  of  their  total  number.  In  Li 
beria,  they  have  shown  themselves  hitherto  very 
capable  of  ruling.  In  Hayti,  since  their  deliverance 
from  the  ridiculous  and  odious  yoke  of  Soulouqiu -, 
they  have  advanced  rapidly,  it  is  affirmed,  in  tli3 
way  of  true  progress  ;  legal  marriages  increase , 
popular  instruction  is  becoming  established,  relig 
ious  liberty  is  respected.  Lastly,  in  the  negri 
colony  of  Buxton,  in  Canada,  the  fugitive  slaves 
have  become  industrious  landholders,  and  ar3 
respected  by  all. 

Let  us  not  say  that  prejudice  of  skin  is  inde 
structible  ;  the  suppression  of  slavery  may  modify 
it  profoundly.  What  degrades  the  free  negro  to 
day,  is  the  existence  of  the  negro  slave.  To  bo 
respectable,  we  all  need  to  be  respected.  The  poor, 
free  ne<rro  is  ashamed  of  himself;  he  dares  not  as- 

•  O 

pire  to  any  thing  noble  and  great ;  he  preserves,  be 
sides,  as  the  legacy  of  slavery,  the  idea  that  labor  is 
dishonoring,  that  idleness  is  a  sign  of  independence. 
This  is  enough  to  make  him  remain  a  stranger  to 
honorable  occupations,  and  confine  himself  to  tin 
practice  of  vile  trades.  When  slavery  shall  have 
disappeared,  the  situation  of  the  free  blacks  will  be 
come  quite  different :  they  will  be  numerous  ;  they 
will  have  an  appreciable  share  in  the  regulation  of 


AFTER   EMANCIPATION.  211 

national  affairs  ;  their  vote  will  count,  and,  thence 
forth,  we  may  be  tranquil,  no  one  will  be  afraid  to 
treat  them  with  respect,  and  perhaps  to  par  court 
to  them. 

The  law  of  Xew  York,  as  well  as  the  Supreme 
Court  of  that  State,  has  already  admitted  that  color 
exercises  no  influence  over  the  rights  of  citizens. 
The  time  draws  near  when  the  Xorth  will  no  longer 
contest  the  intervention  of  free  negroes  at  the  ballot- 
box.  This  will  be  a  great  step  in  advance.  Let 
us  remark,  moreover,  that,  after  general  emancipa 
tion,  the  black  population,  while  exercising  its  share 
of  influence,  will  never  be  able,  through  the  number 
of  suffrages  at  its  disposal,  to  alarm  the  jealous  sus 
ceptibility  of  the  whites  ;  the  latter,  in  fact,  will  be 
continually  recruited  by  European  immigration,  and 
the  day  will  come  when  the  few  negroes  of  the 
United  States  will  be  scarcely  perceptible  in  the 
heart  of  a  gigantic  nation. 

The  honor  of  the  Xorth  is  at  stake  ;  it  belongs 
to  it  to  give  an  example  at  this  time,  and  to  show, 
by  the  reform  of  its  own  habits,  that  it  has  the  right 
to  combat  the  crime  of  the  South.  It  must  set  to 
work  seriously,  resolutely,  to  resolve  the  problem 
of  the  coexistence  of  races,  while  the  South  re 
solves,  willing  or  unwilling,  the  problem  of  eman- 


212  COEXISTENCE    OF    THE    TWO    KACES 

cipation.  Liberty  in  the  South,  equality  in  the 
North  ;  the  one  is  no  less  necessary  than  the  oth  21- ; 
it  may  even  be  said  that  one  great  obstacle  to  die 
idea  of  emancipation  is  this  other  idea  that  blacks 
and  whites  cannot  live  together,  but  that  one  must 
some  day  exterminate  the  other. 

Why  suffer  the  establishment  of  this  ly.ng 
axiom  which  checks  all  progress?  "Why  not  cast 
our  eyes  on  the  neighboring  colonies  where  he 
prejudice  of  color  reigned  supremely  before  eman 
cipation,  and  where  it  has  since  become  rapidly 
effaced.  The  United  States  have  a  lofty  end  to  at 
tain  ;  let  them  beware  how  they  take  too  low  an 
aim  !  They  will  not  have  more  than  they  need, 
with  the  efforts  of  all,  the  charity  of  all,  the  sacri 
fices  of  all,  the  earnest  endeavors  by  which  all  can 
elevate  themselves  above  vulgar  prejudices,  to  ac 
complish  a  task  at  once  the  most  difficult  and  most 
glorious  that  has  ever  been  proposed  to  a  great 
people. 

The  North,  I  repeat,  is  bound  to  give  a  noble  ex 
ample  by  obtaining  a  shining  victory  over  itself.  Let 
it  say  to  itself  that  coexistence  is  not  amalgama 
tion  ;  the  question  is  not  to  marry  negroes,  but  to  treat 
them  with  justice.  The  fear  of  amalgamation  once 
vanished,  many  things  will  change  in  appearance. 


AFTER    EMANCIPATION.  213 

Why,  in  fact",  is  the  prejudice  of  race  stronger  in 
the  free  States  than  in  the  slave  States  ?  Because 
the  latter  know  that  slavery  is  a  sufficient  line  of 
demarcation,  and  because  they  have  not  to  dread 
amalgamation.  Now,  this  is  and  will  be  nowhere  to 
be  dreaded  ;  the  instinct  of  both  races  will  prevent 
such  mingling,  and  the  blacks  are  as  anxious  to  re 
main  separate  from  the  whites  as  the  whites  are  to 
avoid  alliance  with  the  blacks.  As  I  have  said, 
nothing  but  slavery,  and  the  perverse  habits  that  it 
engenders,  could  have  succeeded  in  some  sort  in 
breaking  down  this  barrier.  If  the  class  of  mul- 
lattoes  thus  formed  rule  in  some  republics  of  South 
America,  it  proceeds  from  the  absence  of  a  nu 
merous  and  powerful  white  race,  like  that  which  is 
covering  the  United  States  with  its  continually  in 
creasing  population. 

Decidedly,  fears  of  amalgamation  are  puerile  in 
such  a  country ;  and  decidedly  also,  any  other  solu 
tion  than  the  coexistence  of  races  would  be  wrong. 
JDoubtless,  a  natural  concentration  of  the  emancipa 
ted  negroes  will  be  some  day  effected ;  they  will 
flock  to  those  States  where  their  relative  number 
will  ensure  to  them  the  most  influence.  Perhaps 
we  may  even  obtain  a  glimpse  of  the  time  when,  by 
rthe  result. of  a  providential  compensation,  the  coun- 


COEXISTENCE    OF    THE    KACES 

tries  which  have  been  the  witnesses  of  their  suffer 
ings,  and  which  they  have  watered  with  their  tears, 
these  countries  where  they,  better  than  any  others, 
can  devote  themselves  to  labor,  will  belong  to  them 
in  great  part.  Are  the  Antilles  and  the  regions  Q? 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  destined  to  become  the  refuse 

O 

and  almost  the  empire  of  Africans  torn  from  thoir 
own  continent?  It  is  possible,  but  not  certain.  In 
any  case,  this  geographical  repartition  of  the  rac  es 
would  be  wrought  peaceably ;  the  effort  to  effect  it 
by  violent  measures  would  justly  arouse  the  cc  n- 
science  of  the  human  race.  So  long  as  we  talk  of 
transporting  the  blacks  to  Africa,  to  St.  Domingo, 
or  elsewhere,  so  long  as  the  peaceable  coexistence 
of  the  races  be  not  accepted,  the  barbarous  pro 
ceedings  which  dishonor  America  will  not  cea>e, 
the  Northern  States  will  maltreat  their  free  negroes, 
and  the  South  will  cling  to  slavery  as  to  the  only 
means  of  preventing  a  struggle  for  extermination. 

At  the  North  as  well  as  the  South,  men  need  to 
accustom  themselves  in  fine  to  the  idea  of  coexist 
ence.  Yes,  there  will  be  whites  and  free  blacks  in 
various  parts  of  the  Union  ;  yes,  it  is  certain  that  in 
some  parts,  the  black  population  will  be  possessed 
of  influence ;  it  may  even  happen  that,  in  one  or 
two  points  of  the  extreme  South,  it  will  come  to 


AFTEii    EMANCIPATION.  215 

i 

rule.  If  this  hypothesis,  improbable  in  my  opinion, 
should  ever  be  realized,  it  would  not  be  a  cause  of 
shame,  but  of  glory,  to  the  Union.  It  is  said  that 
the  great  Indian  tribes  of  the  Southwest  think  of 
forming  a  State,  which  will  demand  admission  into 
the  Union,  and  which  has  a  chance  to  obtain  it. 
Why  should  there  not  be,  at  need,  a  negro  State  by 
the  side  of  an  Indian  State  ?  This  reparation  would 
be  fully  due  to  the  oppressed  race,  and  America 
would  be  honored  in  treading  her  repugnance  under 
foot,  and  in  showing  to  the  whole  world  that  her  so 
much  vaunted  liberty  is  not  a  vain  word. 

She  would  show,  at  the  same  time,  that  her 
Christian  faith  is  not  a  vain  formality.  If  the  de 
sire  of  avoiding  amalgamation  has  legitimate 
grounds,  the  antipathy  of  race  is  simply  abomina 
ble.  Words  cannot  be  found  severe  enough  to  cen 
sure  the  conduct  of  those  Christians  who,  pursuing 
with  their  indignation  the  slavery  of  the  South,  re 
fuse  to  fulfil  the  simplest  duties  of  kindness,  or 
even  of  common  equity,  towards  the  free  negroes  of 
the  ]STorth. 

But  I  hope  that  the  Gospel,  accustomed  to  work 
miracles,  will  also  work  this.  Let  us  be  just ;  we 
have  already  seen  the  pious  ladies  of  Philadelphia 
lavishing  their  cares  on  black  and  white  without 


2 1(5  COEXISTENCE    OF    THE    RACES 

distinction  at  the  time  of  the  cholera  invasion. 
They  washed  and  dressed  with  their  own  hands,  in 
the  hospital  which  they  had  founded,  the  children 
rendered  orphans  by  the  scourge,  without  taking 
account  of  the  differences  of  color.  This  is  a  sign 
of  progress,  and  I  could  cite  several  others ;  I  could 
name  cities,  Chicago,  for  instance,  where  the  schools 
are  opened  by  law  to  the  blacks  as  well  as  the 
whites.  There  is  a  power  in  the  United  States 
which  will  overthrow  the  obstacle  of  the  North  as 
well  as  that  of  the  South,  which  will  abolish  both 
slavery  and  prejudice  of  skin. 

This  power  has  shown  in  the  Antilles  what  it 
can  do.  There,  pastors  and  missionaries,  schools, 
works  of  charity  pursued  in  common,  have  placed 
on  a  level  the  blacks  and  the  whites,  devoted  to  the 
same  cause,  and  ransomed  by  the  same  Saviour.  In 
the  United  States,  likewise,  the  Christian  faith  will 
raise  up  the  one,  and  will  teach  the  others  to  hum 
ble  themselves ;  it  will  destroy  the  vices  of  the 
negro,  and  will  break  the  detestable  pride  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon.  The  real  influence  of  faith  on  both — 
this  is  the  true  solution,  this  is  the%true  bond  of  the 
races.  Through  this,  will  be  established  relations 
of  mutual  love  and  respect.  What  a  mission  is  re 
served  for  the  churches  of  the  United  States ! 


AFTER    EMANCIPATION.  21 T 

Checked  hitherto  by  enormous  difficulties,  which  it 
would  be  unjust  not  to  take  into  account,  they 
have  not  acted  the  part  in  the  recent  struggle 
against  slavery  which  reverted  to  them  of  right. 
They  have  done  a  great  deal,  whatever  may  be  said ; 
they  are  disposed  to  do  still  more,  and  their  attitude 
has  improved  visibly  within  a  year.  But  this  can 
not  suffice ;  there  are  two  problems  to  resolve  in 
stead  of  one  ;  the  question  is  now,  to  approach  both 
face  to  face.  True  equality  is  founded,  under  the 
eye  of  God,  through  the  community  of  hopes  and  of 
repentance,  through  close  association  in  worship,  in 
prayer,  in  action  ;  and  this  equality  has  nothing  in 
common  with  the  jealous  spirit  of  levelling  which 
suffers  old  grievances  to  subsist,  and  continually  in 
vents  new  ;  it  is  peaceable,  forgetful  of  evil,  confid 
ing,  truly  fraternal.  I  do  not  dream,  of  course,  of 
the  universal  conversion  of  the  population  of  the 
United  States,  both  black  and  white  ;  I  know  only 
that  the  Gospel,  though  it  deeply  penetrates  com 
paratively  few  hearts,  extends  its  influence  much 
further,  and  acts  on  those  that  it  has  not  won.  Let 
the  Christians  of  America  set  to  work,  let  them  re 
ject,  for  it  is  time,  the  scandals  still  presented  here 
and  there  by  their  apologists  for  slavery,  let  them 

forbear  to  spnre  that  which  is  culpable,  to  call  good 
10 


218  COEXISTKXCI:  OF  THE  RACES 

evil,  or  evil  good,  and  they  will  render  to  their 
country  a  service  which  they  alone  can  render  it, 
and  to  which  nothing  on  earth  can  be  compared. 

The  United  States  do  not  know  how  great  will 
be  the  transformation  of  their  internal  condition, 
and  the  increase  of  their  good  renown  abroad,  when 
their  churches,  their  schools,  their  public  vehicles, 
their  ballot-boxes,  shall  be  widely  accessible  to  per 
sons  of  color,  when  equality  and  liberty  shall  have 
become  realities  on  their  soil ;  they  do  not  know 
how  great  will  be  their  peace  and  their  prosperity. 
Let  the  two  inseparable  problems  of  slavery  and  the 
coexistence  of  races  be  resolved  among  them  undar 
the  ruling  influence  of  the  Gospel,  and  they  will 
witness  the  birth  of  a  future  far  better  than  the 
past.  ISTo  more  fears,  no  more  rivalries,  no  more 
separations  in  perspective,  their  conquests  will  be 
come  accomplished  of  themselves ;  and,  no  longer 
destined  to  swell  the  domain  of  servitude,  they  will 
win  the  applause  of  the  entire  world. 

And  all  this  will  not  be  purchased,  as  men  seem 
to  believe,  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  cotton  culture. 
At  the  present  time,  this  culture  incurs  but  one 
serious  risk :  the  momentary  triumph  of  a  party  that 
dreams  of  a  slavery  propaganda ;  it  will  be  saved 
alone  by  the  progress  of  liberty.  On  the  day  when 


AFTER    EMANCIPATION. 

emancipation  shall  be  achieved,  if  wrought  by  the 
action  of  moral  agents  and  social  necessities,  instead 
of  b y  that  of  civil  wars  and  insurrections,  the  culti 
vation  of  cotton  in  the  Southern  States  will  receive 
the  impetus  to  a  magnificent  development.  The 
emancipated  negroes  make  large  quantities  of  sugar 
in  the  Antilles  ;  why  should  they  not  make  cotton 
on  firm  ground  ?  If  affranchisement  produced  the 
destruction  of  planting  in  St.  Domingo,  we  know 
now  the  reason.  It  is  a  proved  fact  that  negroes 
who  do  not  owe  their  liberty  to  insurrection,  re 
main  disposed  to  devote  themselves  to  labor  in  the 
fields. 

With  slavery,  observe,  disappear,  one  after  the 
other,  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  agricultural  pro 
gress.  The  capital  which  no  one  dares  risk  to-day 
in  the  Southern  States,  will  flow  into  them  emu- 
lously  as  soon  as  slavery  shall  be  abolished  ;  I  say 
more  :  as  soon  as  its  progressive  abolition  shall  be 
no  longer  doubtful  in  the  sight  of  all.  European  im 
migration,  the  current  of  which  turns  aside  with  so 
much  circumspection,  avoiding  a  territory  accursed 
and  given  over  to  calamities,  will  flock  towards 
those  countries  more  beautiful,  more  fertile,  and 
broader  than  those  of  the  Far  "West.  Machinery 
will  come,  to  more  than  fill  up  the  void  caused  by 


220  COEXISTENCE    OF    THE    HACKS 

the  passing  diminution  of  the  number  of  laborers. 
The  slaves  can  be  intrusted  with  none  but  the  sim 
plest  implements  :  every  one  knows  that  the  plougl  i, 
introduced  originally  into  our  French  colonies, 
disappeared  to  make  room  for  the  hoe  as  soon  us 
Colbert  had  authorized  the  slave  trade.  Ploughs 
have  reappeared  there  since  emancipation.  Their 
agricultural  and  industrial  progress  date  from  tl  e 
same  epoch :  to-day,  our  colonists  understand  tl  e 
use  of  manures,  and  make  improvements  in  manu 
facture.  A  new  era  is  dawning,  in  fine  ;  what  will 
it  be  in  the  United  States,  among  that  peop  e 
which  seems  destined  to  surpass  all  others  in  tl  e 
application  of  mechanics  to  agriculture  ? 

Still,  I  have  made  one  concession  too  much  in 
admitting  the  diminution  of  the  number  of  laborers. 
Supposing  that  a  few  negroes  quit  the  field,  many 
whites  will  come  to  take  their  place.  White  labor 
is  fully  possible  in  the  majority  of  the  slave  States, 
and  immigrants  from  Europe  will  not  hesitate  to 
engage  in  it.  Wherever  slavery  reigns,  it  is  that, 
and  not  the  climate,  that  must  be  arraigned  if  the 
whites  fold  their  hands  ;  labor  has  become  there  a 
servile  act — it  is  blighted,  as  it  were,  in  its  essence. 
A  competent  writer  said  the  other  day  :  "  If  Alge 
ria  had  been  subjected  to  the  sway'of  slavery,  cul- 


AFTER   EMANCIPATION.  221 

tivation  there  would  have  been  reputed  impracti 
cable  for  the  French,  and  examples  of  mortality 
would  not  have  been  wanting."  The  whites  have 
labored  in  the  Antilles  ;  the  whites  can  labor,  not 
only  in  all  the  slave  States  of  the  intermediate  re 
gion,  but  in  Louisiana.  Cotton  is  already  produced 
in  Texas,  thanks  to  its  German  settlers.  The  ques 
tion  is  only,  to  go  on  in  this  way.  Slavery  once 
abolished,  the  small  proprietors,  who  at  present 
carry  all  the  criminal  extravagancies  of  the  South 
further  than  any  others,  will  be  compelled  to  set 
their  hands  to  work.  This  will  be  an  advantage 
both  to  the  country  and  themselves.  Who  will 
not  pray  for  the  coming  of  the  time  when  so  con 
siderable  a  part  of  the  population  will  cease  to  pos 
sess  slaves  which  it  is  incapable  of  feeding,  when 
it  will  be  transformed  into  the  middle  class,  and 
thus  escape  the  real  servitude  which  embitters  it  ? 

Moreover,  let  us  not  forget  new  cultures,  that 
of  the  vine  among  others,  which  are  fitted  to  be 
come  introduced  into  these  new  countries,  or  to  de 
velop  there,  and  which  lack. nothing  but  liberty  in 
order  to  nourish.  The  arts  and  manufactures  also 
have  their  place ;  independently  of  the  tillers  of 
the  soil,  properly  called,  the  Southern  States  will 
have  need  of  workmen  in  manufactories,  and  of 


222  COEXISTENCE    OF    THE    KACES 

managers  of  agricultural  machines  ;  large  planta 
tions  will  often  become  divided,  as  has  happened 
in  the  Antilles,  and  we  shall  witness  the  appearance 
of  the  small  estate,  that  essential  basis  of  social 
order.  There  will  be  employment  for  all,  and  the 5 
rich  Southern  cultures  will  be  less  neglected  than 
before. 

Whoever  has  descended  the  Ohio  has  involun 
tarily  compared  its  two  banks  :  here,  the  State  oi 
Ohio,  whose  prosperity  advances  with  rapid  strides  ; 
there,  the  State  of  Kentucky,  no  less  favored  by 
Xature,  yet  which  languishes  as  if  abandoned. 
Why  ?  Because  slavery  blights  all  that  it  touches. 
Could  not  the  whites  of  Kentucky  and  Virginia 
labor  as  well  as  those  of  Ohio  ?  The  comparative 
poverty  of  these  slave  States  reminds  me  of  the 
destitution  of  our  colonies  and  those  of  England 
before  emancipation :  mortgaged  estates,  planta 
tions  burdened  with  expenses,  the  complete  destruc 
tion  of  credit — such  was  their  position.  We  must 
read  American  statistics  to  form  an  idea  of  the 
truly  unheard-of  extent  of  this  fact — impoverish 
ment  by  slavery.  With  a  larger  extent  and  much 
richer  lands,  the  slave  States  possess  neither  agri 
cultural  growth,  nor  industrial  growth,  nor  advance 
of  population,  which  can  be  compared  far  or  near 


AFTEK    EMANCIPATION.  223 

with  that  which  is  found  in  the  free  States.  A 
book  by  Mr.  Hinton.  Kowan  Helper,  The  Impend 
ing  Crisis  of  the  South,  expresses  these  differences 
in  figures  so  significant  that  it  is  impossible  to  con 
test  them. 

The  Southern  States,  therefore,  are  certain  to 
increase  their  cultures,  and  to  found  their  lasting 
prosperity  by  entering  the  path  that  leads  to  eman 
cipation.  But  if  they  take  the  contrary  road,  they 
will  hasten  to  their  destruction,  and  with  strange 
rapidity.  Already,  their  violent  acts  of  secession, 
and  the  monstrous  plans  which  are  necessarily  at 
tached  to  them,  have  had  the  first  effect,  easily 
foreseen,  of  dealing  a  most  dangerous  blow  to 
American  cotton.  In  a  few  weeks,  they  hrvve  done 
themselves  more  harm  than  the  Xorth,  supposing 
its  hostility  as  great  as  it  is  little,  could  have  done 
them  in  twenty  years.  The  meeting  of  Manchester 
lias  replied  to  the  manifestoes  of  Charleston  ;  Eng 
land  has  said  to  herself,  that,  from  men  so  deter 
mined  to  destroy  themselves,  she  should  count  on 
nothing  ;  and,  having  taken  her  resolution,  she  will 
proceed  with  it  speedily ;  let  the  Southern  States 
take  care.  English  India  can  produce  as  much 
cotton  as  America  ;  before  long,  if  the  Carolinians 
persist,  they  will  have  obtained  the  glorious  result 


224  COEXISTENCE   OF   THE   KACES 

of  despoiling  their  country  of  its  chief  resource ; 
they  will  have  killed  the  hen  that  laid  the  goldei 
eggs.  The  matter  is  serious  ;  I  ask  them  to  reflect 
on  it.  As  England,  under  pain  of  falling  int) 
want  and  riots,  cannot  dispense  with  cotton  for  i 
single  day,  she  will  act  energetically.  Cotton 
grows  marvellously  in  many  countries  ;  in  the  An 
tilles,  where  it  has  been  produced  already  ;  in  Al 
geria,  where  the  plantations  are  about  to  be  in 
creased  ;  on  the  whole  continent  of  Africa,  in  fine, 
where  it  enters  perhaps  into  the  plans  of  God  thu  * 
to  make  a  breach  in  indigenous  slavery  by  the 
faults  committed  by  slaveholders  in  America. 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE   PRESENT   CRISIS    WILL   REGENERATE    THE 
TIOXS    OF   THE   UNITED    STATES. 


IT  remains  for  me  to  inquire  what  influence  the 
present  crisis  may  exert  on  the  institutions  of  the 
United  States.  It  is  at  the  expense  of  these  insti 
tutions  that  the  slave  States,  inferior  in  strength,  in 
numbers,  in  progress  of  every  kind,  would  reestab 
lish  their  fatal  and  growing  preponderance.  Here 
again,  therefore,  my  thesis  subsists  :  the  victories  of 
the  -South  had  compromised  every  thing,  the  resist 
ance  of  the  ]S"orth  is  about  to  save  every  thing  ;  the 
election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  is  a  painful  but  salutary 
crisis,  it  is  the  first  effort  of  a  great  people  rising. 

The  party  of  slavery  had  introduced  into  the 
heart  of  American  democracy,  a  permanent  cause 
of  debasement  and  corruption.  In  this  respect, 
also,  it  was  leading  the  Confederation  to  its  death 
by  the  most  direct  and  speedy  way.  I  wish  to  show 
10* 


226          THE    PRESENT    CRISIS    WILL    REGENERATE 

Low  it  developed  the  worst  sides  of  the  democratic, 
system.  I  hope  to  be  impartial  towards  this  sys 
tem  ;  although  persuaded  that  the  government  o :' 
which  England  offers  us  the  model  is  better  suited 
to  guaranty  public  liberties  and  to  second  true  prog 
ress  in  every  thing,  I  am  not  of  those  who  place 
the  shadow  before  the  substance,  and  who  conderm 
democracy  without  appeal.  Are  we  destined  some 
day  to  pass  into  its  hands  ?  Have  we  already 
begun  to  glide  down  the  descent  that  leads  to  it : 
It  is  possible.  In  any  case,  it  would  be  unjust  tc 
hate  America  on  account  of  it,  as  is  too  often  done. 
America  has  had  no  choice ;  in  virtue  of  its  origin 
and  its  history,  it  could  be  nothing  else  than  a  de 
mocracy.  If  it  has  the  faults  of  democracy,  the 
unamiable  rudeness,  the  violent  proceedings,  the 
levelling  passions,  I  am  scarcely  surprised  at  it.  I 
ask  myself  rather  if  it  has  known  how  to  find  a  basis 
of  support  against  the  temptations  of  such  a  sys 
tem,  it  it  has  prevented  the  subjugation  of  individ 
uals  by  the  mass,  the  absorption  of  consciences  by 
the  State,  the  substitution  of  the  sovereignty  of  the 
end  for  that  of  the  people.  These  are  the  shoals  of 
democracy  ;  have  they  been  shunned  by  the  United 
States  ?  Have  they  been  able  to  avoid  transforming 
it  either  into  tyranny  or  socialism  ?  "We  shall  see 


THE    INSTITUTIONS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.       227 

tliat,  if  it  has  not  succumbed  to  the  temptation,  this 
has  not  been  the  fault  of  the  party  of  slavery. 
Thanks  to  it,  the  corruption  of  democratic  institu 
tions  was  rapidly  advancing ;  a  single  adversary, 
constantly  the  same,  has  combated  the  progress  of 
this  work  of  destruction.  TVe  shall  encounter 
again,  upon  the  ground  of  political  institutions,  the 
fundamental  antagonism  of  the  Gospel  and  slavery. 

I  say  first,  that  it  is  rarely  that  names  are  alto 
gether  fortuitous,  and  do  not  correspond  to  things. 
It  has  often  given  rise  to  astonishment  that  the 
party  of  slavery  should  have  taken  the  name  of  the 
democratic  party ;  notwithstanding,  nothing  was 
more  natural.  How  could  slavery  have  been  de 
fended  if  not  by  exaggerating  democracy  ?  It  was 
necessary,  in  such  a  cause,  to  deny  the  notions  of 
right,  of  truth,  and  of  justice  ;  it  was  necessary  that 
the  greater  number  should  become  right,  truth,  and 
justice. 

Something  more  even  was  needed.  The  sover 
eignty  of  the  end  must  yield,  if  necessary,  before  the 
sovereignty  of  numbers.  A  cause  like  that  of 
slavery  is  only  defended  in  the  heart  of  a  demo 
cratic  nation,  by  teaching  it  contempt  of  scruples, 
and  the  stifling  of  the  conscience.  Every  thing 
is  allowable,  every  thing  is  good,  provided  that  we 


228         THE   PRESENT   CRISIS    WILL   REGENERATE 

succeed  in  our  ends!  This  is  the  rule  which  t 
designs  shall  prevail  in  political  contests.  A  single 
question,  seeing  nothing  but  itself,  determined  to 
spare  nothing,  offering  itself  to  parties,  whoever  they 
may  be,  who  seek  a  change,  creating  factitious  im  - 
jorities  to  effect  the  ends  of  base  ambition,  taking 
account  neither  of  honor  nor  country,  and  attaining 
its  end  through  every  thing — this  is  enough  to  vi 
tiate  profoundly  institutions  and  morals.  The  sov 
ereignty  of  the  idea,  when  it  has  laid  hands  on  tli  3 
sovereignty  of  the  people,  is  in  a  position  to  go 
to  great  lengths,  and  to  sink  very  low.  Moral 
maxims  and  written  laws  are  trodden  under  foot, 
a  struggle  without  pity  or  remorse  begins,  a  strug 
gle  of  life  and  death.  Social  passions  easily  acquire 
a  degree  of  perversity  which  political  passions  do 
not  possess  ;  the  former  are  without  conscience  and 
without  compassion ;  they  will  be  satisfied,  cost 
what  it  may  ;  triumph  is  in  their  eyes'  an  absolute, 
an  inexorable  necessity.  Kather  than  not  conquer, 
they  will  rend  the  country. 

What  the  regular  working  of  institutions  be 
comes  under  such  a  pressure,  every  one  can  divine. 
For  some  years  past,  in  proportion  as  the  preten 
sions  of  the  slavery  party  had  increased,  we  had  seen 
public  morals  become  tainted  in  the  United  States. 


THE    INSTITUTIONS    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.       229 

Indifference  to  means  had  made  alarming  progress, 
and  had  been  felt  even  in  the  habits  of  commerce, 
and  the  relations  of  private  life.  The  spirit  of  en 
terprise  had  come  to  be  exalted  even  in  its  most 
dishonorable  acts ;  respect  for  bankrupts  seemed 
almost  to  be  propagated.  It  is  a  fact,  that  men  like 
Mr.  Jefferson  Davis,  the  present  President  of  the 
revolted  South,  were  not  afraid  to  recommend  the 
repudiation  of  debts.  In  the  school  of  slavery,  a 
disembarrassed  and  unscrupulous  manner  of  acting 
had  given  its  stamp  to  the  general  manner  of  the 
nation.  Affairs  were  going  on  rapidly,  the  liberties 
of  America  were  on  the  high  road  to  ruin  ;  it  was 
time  that  the  reaction  of  liberal  and  honorable  sen 
timents  should  make  itself  felt.  The  election  of  1860 
marked  the  stopping-place. 

I  wonder  that  they  could  have  stopped  ;  such  a 
fact  demands  an  explanation,  for  ordinarily  the  de 
clivities  of  democratic  decline  are  never  remounted. 
The  natural  tendency  there  being  to  deny  the  right 
of  the  minority,  (the  most  precious  of  all,)  to  sink 
the  man  entire  in  the  ballot,  to  lay  violent  hands  on 
the  private  portion  of  his  life,  and  to  force  even  his 
conscience  into  the  social  contract,  it  follows  that 
governments  arise  in  which  the  question  of  limita 
tion  becomes  effaced  by  the  question  of  origin.  In 


230          THE    PRESENT    CRISIS    WILL    REGENERATE 

the  face  of  such  a  power,  nothing  is  left  standing ; 
no  more  rights,  no  more  principles,  no  more  of  those 
solid  and  resisting  blocks  wThich  serve  to  stem  tha 
popular  current ;  the  province  of  the  State  becomes 
indefinite. 

And  how  much  more  irresistible  and  more  pei  - 
verse  is  this  tendency,  when  a  profound  cause  o.? 
corruption,  such  as  slavery,  adds  its  action  to  th  3 
strength  of  such  democracies!  It  is  no  longer,  in 
such  cases,  the  sovereign  majority  alone  beforo 
which  the  right  may  be  forced  to  bow,  it  is  a  party 
determined  to  attain  its  ends,  which  penetrates  with 
violence  into  that  domain  of  conscience  where, 
human  laws  should  not  enter ;  a  party  which  sets 
about  regulating  sometimes  the  belief,  sometimes 
the  thought,  sometimes  the  speech.  Such  has  been 
the  influence  exercised  in  the  United  States  by  the 
institution  of  slavery  ;  it  has  forbidden  authors  to 
write,  clergymen  to  preach,  and  almost  individuals 
to  think  any  thing  that  displeased  it ;  it  has  invented 
the  right  of  secession,  in  order  to  have  at  its  disposal 
a  formidable  means  of  intimidation,  and  to  place 
a  threat  behind  each  of  its  demands.  To  yield,  to 
descend,  to  descend  still  further,  to  obey  a  contin 
ued  impulse  of  democratic  debasement,  such  is  the 
course  to  which  it  has  impelled  the  whole  Confede 
ration. 


THE    INSTITUTIONS    OF   THE   UNITED    STATES.       231 

Notwithstanding,  the  United  States  have  resist 
ed.  I  shall  tell  why  ;  I  shall  show  by  virtue  of 
what  marvellous  force  Americans  have  escaped  the 
absolute  levelling  which  seemed  destined  to  be  pro 
duced  by  a  complicated  democracy  of  slavery.  But 
I  wish  first  to  finish  depicting  the  natural  effects  of 
such  a  system. 

Suppose  for  a  moment  a  nation  (and  such  are 
not  wanting)  modelled  after  the  antique.  The  Pa 
gan  principle  reigns  there  supremely,  the  State  ab 
sorbs  every  thing,  souls  are  banded  together  and 
governed ;  a  centralized  power,  a  visible  Providence, 
is  substituted  for  individual  action  ;  creeds  have  es 
sentially  the  hereditary  and  national  form  ;  each  one 
believes  what  the  rest  believe,  each  one  does  what 
the  rest  do,  each  one  holds  the  opinions  which  are 
found  in  the  ancient  traditions  of  the  country ;  truth 
is  no  longer  a  personal  conviction,  acquired  at  the 
price  of  earnest  struggles,  and  worth  much  because 
it  has  cost  much ;  it  descends  to  the  rank  of  customs 
to  which  it  is  fitting  to  conform,  it  has  its  marked 
place  among  social  obligations,  and  forms  part  of 
the  duties  of  the  citizen. 

Let  democracy  come  to  establish  its  empire  in  the 
heart  of  such  a  nation,  and  you  will  see  with  what 
rapidity  every  thing  will  disappear  that  bears  the 


232         THE    PRESENT    CRISIS    WILL    REGENERATE 

slightest  resemblance  to  individual  independence. 
The  more  effectual  the  levelling,  the  greater  will  seem 
the  community ;  and  the  smaller  the  individual,  the 
more,  too,  in  face  of  the  privileges  of  the  whole,  will 
the  very  idea  of  personal  rights  become  effaced.  Tl  e 
majority  is  held  infallible,  and  the  minority  appeals 
criminal  if  it  takes  the  liberty  of  refusing  to  subject 
its  thoughts  (yes,  its  very  thoughts)  to  that  of  tl.e 
majority.  In  this  innumerable  host  of  like  beings, 
no  one  is  authorized  to  possess  any  thing  in  private' ; 
of  all  aristocracies,  that  of  the  conscience  appeals 
then  least  endurable.  Men  believe  in  the  majority, 
in  the  mass,  in  the  nation.  "We  have  no  idea  of  the 
intellectual  despotism  of  a  democracy  which  fails  to 
encounter  on.  its  road  the  obstacle  of  personal  con 
victions  ;  it  disposes  of  the  human  soul,  it  creates 
an  unlimited  confidence  in  the  judgment  of  public 
opinion,  it  heads  a  school  of  popular  courtiers,  and 
teaches  each  one  the  art  of  setting  his  watch  by  the 
clock  of  the  market-place. 

Intelligence,  conscience,  convictions — all  bend, 
and  what  does  not  bend  is  broken.  This  hap 
pens,  above  all,  we  repeat  without  wearying,  when 
a  detestable  cause  like  that  of  slavery  perverts  the 
working  of  democratic  institutions.  Then,  the  tyr 
anny  of  the  majorities  has  no  bounds ;  the  major- 


THE   INSTITUTIONS    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.       233 

ities  themselves  are  formed  by  means  of  ignoble 
contracts  and  monstrous  alliances.  In  the  midst 
of  lower  passions  let  loose,  through  banded  parties, 
imperative  mandates,  and  factitious  organizations, 
which  no  longer  leave  the  smallest  outlet  for  the 
flight  of  the  least  independent  wish,  the  perversities 
of  corrupt  and  misled  democracy  have  full  scope. 

In  writing  these  pages,  have  I  described  Amer 
ican  democracy  ?  Yes  and  no.  Tes,  for  such  are 
really  the  temptations  to  which  America  has  been 
exposed,  such  are  really  the  vices  with  which  it 
might  have  often  been  reproached  ;  no,  for  a  prin 
ciple  of  resistance  has  always  revealed  itself  in  the 
darkest  moments,  an  irrepressible  something  has 
always  remained.  In  vain  the  heavy  roller  has 
passed  and  repassed  over  the  ground  ;  it  has  always 
encountered  blocks  of  granite  that  would  not  be 
broken.  This  is  the  .point  which  I  had  at  heart  to 
signal  out  in  closing  this  study,  knowing  that  it 
forms  its  most  essential  part,  and  that  whoever  has 
not  given  it  his  attention  cannot  comprehend  the 
United  States.  The  extraordinary  fact,  much  more 
extraordinary  than  is  supposed,  that,  under  the  sys 
tem  of  democracy  ruled  by  slavery,  men  have  been 
able  to  pause  and  retrace  their  steps,  is  only  ex 
plained  by  the  peculiar  form  which  religious  belief 


23tt          THE    PRESENT    CRISIS    WILL    REGENERATE 

has  put  011  in  tlie  United  States.  We  have  not  be 
fore  our  eyes  a  Latin  nation,  a  nation  clad  in  tlu 
vestments  of  Greece  or  Rome,  a  nation  having, 
according  to  the  ancient  mode,  its  religion  and  its 
usages  universally  but  indolently  admitted.  This 
republic  of  the  Xew  World  is  by  no  means  one  o  ' 
those  slave  republics  of  ancient  times,  in  which  tli3 
citizens  took  delight  in  conversing  on  public  affairs, 
but  in  which  no  one  had  the  bad  taste  to  question 
his  conscience  with  respect  to  the  public  creedt. 
The  pagan  life,  with  its  obligatory  worship,  its  com 
mon  education,  its  suppression  of  the  family  and 
the  individual  in  behalf  of  the  State,  its  existence 
transported  to  the  Forum ;  the  pagan  life,  in  which 
the  citizen  absorbs  the  individual,  and  in  which  the 
calm  and  serene  uniformity  of  indifferent  centuries 
ends,  by  giving  to  each  one  the  national  physiog 
nomy,  bears  no  resemblance  to  the  moral  and  social 
life  of  the  United  States. 

Among  them,  not  the  smallest  trace  is  found  of 
that  system  which  seeks  to  make  nations,  and  which 
forgets  to  make  men.  They  were  born,  as  we  may 
say,  of  a  protestation  of  the  human  conscience.  A 
noble  origin,  which  explains  many  things !  It  is, 
in  fact,  the  revindication  of  religious  independence 
against  religious  uniformity,  and  the  established 


THE    INSTITUTIONS    OF    THE   UNITED    STATES.       235 

church,  which  created  it  two  hundred  years  ago. 
Of  course,  I  have  not  to  examine  here  the  intrinsic 
value  of  the  Puritan  doctrines.  I  content  myself 
with  affirming  that  they  landed  in  America  in  the 
name  of  liberty,  that  they  were  destined  to  establish 
liberty  there,  that  they  were  destined  to  build  there 
the  true  rampart  against  democratic  tyranny. 

From  the  first  day,  the  State  was  deprived  of 
the  direction  of  the  intellectual  and  moral  man. 
Despite  that  inevitable  mixture  of  inconsistencies 
and  hesitation  which  marks  our  first  efforts  in  all 
things,  the  Puritan  colonies,  destined  one  day  to  be 
come  the  United  States,  set  out  on  the  road  which  led 
to  liberty  of  belief,  of  thoughts,  of  speech,  of  the  press, 
of  assemblage,  of  instruction.  The  most  consider 
able,  most  important  rights  were  abstracted  at  the 
outset  from  the  domain  of  democratic  deliberations; 
insuperable  bounds  were  set  to  the  sovereignty  of 
numbers ;  the  right  of  minorities,  that  of  the  indi 
vidual,  the  right  of  remaining  alone  against  all 
others,  the  right  of  being  of  one's  own  opinion,  was 
reserved.  Furthermore,  they  did  not  delay  to 
break  the  bonds  between  the  Church  and  the  State 
entirely,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  deprive  the  official 
superintendence  of  belief  of  its  last  pretext.  Self- 
government  was  founded,  that  is,  the  most  formal 


236         THE   PRESENT   CRISIS    WILL   REGENERATE 

negation  of  subjugation  by  the  democracy.  While 
the  latter  tends  to  the  maximum  of  government,  the 
American  Government  tends  to  the  minimum  of 
government,  that  form  par  excellence  of  liberalism. 
And  it  does  not  tend  thither,  as  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
by  anarchy,  by  the  absence  of  national  ties,  ai  d 
moreover  by  despoiling  the  individual  of  his  rights 
of  conscience  and  thought,  confiscated  then  more 
entirely  for  the  benefit  of  a  sovereign  church  than 
they  have  been  since  for  the  benefit  of  the  State  ; 
no,  American  individualism  proceeds  differently :  if 
it  restrains  with  salutary  vigor  the  province  of  go\- 
ernments,  it. is  to  enlarge  that  of  the  human  soul. 

This  is  a  great  conquest ;  the  whole  future  of 
the  modern  world  is  contained  in  it.  Destine^  as  we 
are  to  submit,  in  a  measure  at  least,  to  the  action 
of  democracy,  the  question  whether  we  shall  bo 
slaves  or  free  men  is  resolved  in  this :  shall  we,  after 
the  example  of  America,  have  our  reserved  tribunal, 
our  closed  domain  in  which  the  public  power  shall 
be  permitted  to  see  nothing  ?  Shall  there  be  things 
among  us  (the  most  important  of  all)  which  shall 
not  be  put  to  the  vote?  Shall  our  democracy  have 
its  boundaries,  and  beyond  these  boundaries  shall  a 
vast  country  be  seen  to  extend — that  of  free  belief, 
of  free  worship,  of  free  thought,  of  the  free  home  ? 


THE    INSTITUTIONS    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.       237 

It  is  because  American  democracy  has  bounda 
ries  that  its  worst  excesses  have  finally  found  chas 
tisement.  It  is  not  installed  alone  in  the  United 
States ;  opposite  it,  another  power  which  knows  no 
fear,  is  occupied  with  resisting  it.  The  entire 
history  of  America  is  explained  by  this  double  fact: 
the  falling  and  the  rising  again,  the  servitudes  and 
the  liberties,  the  too  long  triumph  of  the  slavery 
party,  and  the  recent  victory  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  the 
deadly  peril  so  lately  incurred,  and  the  noble  future 
that  opens  to-day. 

Individualism  is  not  isolation,  individual  con 
victions  are  not  sectarian  convictions ;  they  found 
on  the  contrary  the  most  powerful  of  the  unitie?, 
moral  unity.  The  thing  which  most  actively  dis 
solves  societies  while  seeming  to  unite  them,  is  the 
uniformity  of  national  dogmas  which,  accepted  as 
an  inheritance,  remain  without  action  over  the 
heart.  What  are,  in  fact,  the  great  bonds  on  earth, 
if  not  duty  and  affection  \  Now,  nothing  but  per 
sonal  convictions,  earnestly  acquired  by  the  sweat 
of  our  brow,  can  destroy  selfishness  in  us.  "Without 
this  strong  cement  of  convictions  at  once  individual 
and  common,  you  will  build  nothing  that  will  en 
dure.  The  United  States  have  in  their  heart  strong 
convictions,  which  are  also  common  convictions; 


238          THE    PRESENT    CRISIS    WILL    REGENERATE 

through  external  diversities,  we  have  seen  that  fun 
damental  conformity  is  real,  and  all  earnest  appeal 
to  Christian  truths  agitates  this  country,  so  divided 
in  appearance,  from  one  end  to  the  other.  National 
life  is  here  a  reality.  I  do  not  think  that  Socialism, 
which  excuses  us  from  believing  ourselves,  which 

O 

places  our  soul  under  responsible  administration, 
and  preserves  UP,  it  is  said,  from  the  baleful  dis 
ruptions  engendered  by  individualism,  succeeds  is 
well  in  destroying  selfishness  and  in  diffusing  ide  is 
of  devotion  and  duty.  When  democracy  becom  23 
socialistic,  (and  it  never  has  been  able  to  become  ;;o 
in  the  United  States,)  it  grinds  down  and  reduces 
souls  to  such  a  degree  that  nothing  is  left  but  a  fine 
dust,  a  sort  of  intellectual  and  moral  powder  which, 
it  is  true,  is  an  obstacle  to  nothing,  but  which 
creates  nothing  either.  To  build  an  edifice,  stones 
are  needed,  sand  will  not  suffice. 

Christian  individualism  makes,  the  stones,  and 
the  democratic  party  has  just  perceived  it.  In  a 
country  where  independence  of  soul  has  acclimated 
independence  in  all  its  forms,  men  may  indeed  bow 
the  head  sometimes  to  democracy  allied  to  slavery  ; 
but  this  debasement  has  a  limit,  and  the  time  is 
coming  when  they  will  raise  their  heads.  Strong 
beliefs  are  a  strong  rampart,  the  slaves  of  truth  are 


THE    INSTITUTIONS    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.       239 

free  men,  and  true  independence  begins  in  the 
heart.  To  have  convictions  in  order  to  have  char 
acters,  to  have  believers  in  order  to  have  citizens, 
to  have  energetic  minds  in  order  to  have  powerful 
nations,  to  have  resistance  in  order  to  have  support 
— such  is  the  programme  of  individualism.  Show 
me  a  country  where  men  are  proud  enough  not  to 
bow  before  the  majority,  where  they  do  not  think 
themselves  lost  when  they  depart  from  the  beaten 
track,  and  jostle  of  received  opinions ;  and  I  will 
admit  that  there  it  will  be  possible  to  practise 
democracy  without  falling  into  servitude. 

There  is  but  one  country  of  individual  belief, 
that  could  attempt  the  alliance,  hitherto  deemed 
impossible,  of  democracy  and  liberty.  The  theory 
in  accordance  with  which  the  public  liberties  of 
England  have  the  aristocracy  for  their  essential 
basis,  is  admitted  as  an  axiom  ;  without  contemning 
this  element  of  social  organization,  it  is  advisable 
to  mine  deeper  than  this  to  discover  the  true  foun 
dation  of  liberty.  Individual  belief — this  is  the 
foundation.  The  more  we  reflect,  the  more  we 
discover  that  the^  essential  thing  is  not  the  forms 
of  government,  or  even  the  relations  of  the  differ 
ent  classes,  but  the  moral  state  of  the  community. 
A.re  men  there  ?  Have  souls  become  masters  of 


240          THE    PRESENT    CRISIS    WILL    liKG  KNEE  ATE 

themselves?  Are  characters  formed?  Has  the 
force  of  resistance  appeared  ?  Whoever  shall  have 
replied  to  these  questions  will  have  decided,  know 
ingly  or  unknowingly,  whether  liberty  be  possible. 
I  do  not  know  that  any  people  should  be  ex 
cluded  from  liberty  ;  only  all  are  bound  to  pursue 
it  by  the  path  that  leads  to  it,  by  earnestness  of 
convictions,  by  internal  affranchisement,  which  sig 
nifies  by  the  Gospel.  "We  may  seek  in  vain,  ve 
shall  find  no  means  comparable  to  this  (I  speak  in 
the  political  point  of  view)  when  the  question  is  to 
make  citizens.  To  place  one's  self  under  the  abso 
lute  authority  of  God  and  his  word,  is  to  acquire  "n 
the  face  of  mere  parties,  majorities,  general  opinions, 
an  independence  that  nothing  can  supply.  The 
independence  within  is  always  translated  without  ; 
he  who  is  independent  of  men,  in  the  domain  of 
beliefs  and  of  thoughts,  will  be  equally  so  in  the 
domain  of  public  affairs.  Thus  democracy  itself 
will  not  degenerate  into  socialism.  No  one  hns 
been  able  to  point  out  the  slightest  symptom  of 
socialism  in  the  United  States.  Notwithstanding, 
democracy  is  fully  complete  there,  and  the  election 
of  Mr.  Lincoln,  once  drover,  once  flatboatman, 
once  rail-splitter,  once  clerk — of  Mr.  Lincoln,  the 
»on  of  his  works,  wrho  has  succeeded  by  his  own 


THE    INSTITUTIONS    OF    Tiili    UNITED    STATES.       24:1 

powers  in  becoming  a  well-informed  man  and  an 
orator,  this  election  proves  certainly  that  American 
equality  is  not  menaced  by  the  success  of  the  re 
publican  party.  It  menaces  only  the  evil  democra 
cy,  which,  under  the  guidance  of  the  slavery  party, 
sought  to  force  the  nation  into  the  path  of  socialism. 
But  it  will  not  succeed  in  this ;  the  question  has 
just  been  decided.  Between  these  two  systems, 
which  are  to  contend  for  contemporaneous  commu 
nities,  between  socialism  and  individualism,  the 
choice  of  the  United  States  is  made. 

Before  witnessing  the  affranchisement  of  the 
slaves,  we  shall,  therefore,  witness  the  affranchise 
ment  of  American  politics.  They  have  endured  a 
shameful  yoke,  and  received  sad  lessons.  Since  Jef 
ferson,  the  born  enemy  of  true  liberalism,  founded 
the  Democratic  party,  the  United  States  had  con 
tinued  to  descend  the  declivity  of  radicalism;  a 
work  of  relentless  levelling  was  thenceforth  pur 
sued,  and  the  domain  of  the  conscience  became 
gradually  invaded.  The  democratic  party  found 
its  fulcrum  in  the  South.  The  slave  States  forced 
the  enclosure  of  the  private  tribunal,  and  confiscated 
in  behalf  of  the  State  the  inviolable  rights  of  the 
individual :  neither  thought,  the  press,  nor  the 
pulpit,  were  free  among  them  ;  the  fundamental 
11 


242          THE    PRESENT    CRISIS    WILL    REGENERATE 

maxims  of  Puritan  tradition  were  sacrificed  by 
them  one  after  the  other.  They  did  more  :  tha  iks 
to  them,  men  were  beginning  to  learn  in  the 
free  States  how  to  set  to  work  to  pervert  tl  eir 
own  consciences,  and  to  substitute  for  it  respect 
for  sovereign  majorities.  Every  day,  crying  in 
iquities  were  covered  by  the  pretext :  "If  we 
were  just,  we  should  compromise  the  national 
unity,  or  we  should  risk  losing  the  votes  secured 
to  our  party."  Violence,  menace,  brutality,  and 
corruption,  were  boldly  introduced  into  political 
struggles.  Men  became  habituated  to  evil :  ihe 
most  odious  crimes,  the  Southern  laws  reducing  to 
legal  slavery  every  free  negro  who  should  not  quit 
the  soil  of  the  States,  hardly  raised  a  murmur  }f 
disapprobation ;  the  United  States  seemed  on  tiie 
point  of  losing  that  faculty  which  nothing  can  sur 
vive — the  faculty  of  indignation. 

Behold  in  what  school  the  democratic  party  lu-d 
placed  the  American  people — 'that  noble  people 
which,  despite  the  grave  faults  with  which  it  m;;y 
be  reproached,  represents  in  the  main  many  of  the 
lofty  principles  which  are  allied  to  the  future  of 
modern  communities.  The  reign  of  the  Democratic 
party  would  form  the  subject  of  an  inglorious  his 
tory  ;  in  it  we  should  see  figure  the  glorification 


THE   INSTITUTIONS    OF   THE   UNITED    STATES.       243 

of  servitude,  piracy  applied  to  international  right, 
and,  in  conclusion,  those  facts  of  corruption  and 
waste  which  served  to  crown  its  last  Presidency. 
The  most  consistent  champions  of  the  doctrines  and 
practices  of  the  democratic  party,  are  those  men 
who  have  just  declared  that  votes  are  valid  only 
on  condition  of  giving  the  majority  to  slavery,  and 
that  a  regular  election  is  a  sufficient  cause  for  sepa 
ration. 


CONCLUSION. 

I  HAVE  not  sought  to  recount  events,  but  to  it- 
tempt  a  study,  which  I  believe  to  be  useful  to  us, 
and  which  may,  also,  not  be  useless  to  the  United 
States.  "We  owe  them  the  support  of  our  sympa 
thy.  It  is-  more  important  than  people  imagine  to 
let  them  hear  words  of  encouragement  from  us  at 
this  decisive  moment.  Let  us  not  hasten  to  declare 
that  the  Union  is  destroyed,  that,  henceforth  and 
forever,  there  will  be  two  Confederacies  existing  on 
the  same  footing,  that  the  United  States  of  slavery 
will  have  their  great  role  to  perform  here  below, 
like  the  United  States  of  liberty.  This  would  be, 
in  any  case,  immense  exaggeration.  Let  us  not 
forget  that  the  Union  has  often  before  seemed  lost, 
that  the  Confederation  has  often  before  seemed 
ready  to  perish.  Are  the  men  who  are  terrified  at 
the  present  perils,  ignorant  of  those  which  sur 
rounded  the  cradle  of  the  United  States  :  mutinous 
troops,  contending  ambitions,  threats  of  separation, 


CONCLUSION.  24:5 

anarchy,  ruin?  This  America,  then  so  weak,  is 
the  same  that  has  since  become  so  strong,  in  spite 
of  its  own  faults.  At  the  moment  when  it  rebelled 
against  England,  it  had  neither  arts  and  manufac 
tures,  nor  commerce,  nor  marine ;  and  its  two  or 
three  millions  of  inhabitants  were  far  from  agreeing 
among  themselves.  Yet  such  is  the  vigor  of  its 
genius,  such  is  its  carelessness  of  every  kind  of  dan 
ger,  such  is  the  impetuosity  with  which  it  affronts 
and  surmounts  obstacles,  such  is  the  power  of  its 
national  motto,  "  Go  ahead  !  "  that  through  internal 
struggles,  crises,  and  momentary  exhaustion,  it  has 
attained  the  stature  of  a  great  people.  Count  the 
steamboats  on  its  rivers,  estimate  the  tonnage  of  its 
vessels,  compute  the  amount  of  its  internal  trade, 
measure  the  length  of  its  canals  and  railroads,  and 
you  will  still  have  but  a  faint  idea  of  what  it  is 
capable  of  undertaking  and  accomplishing. 

We  must  remember  these  things,  and  not  irri 
tate  those  enemies  of  America  who  sometimes  feign 
to  put  on  mourning  for  her,  sometimes  jest  at  her 
distress,  and  find  in  the  present  situation  of  the  dis 
united  States  (for  thus  they  style  them)  an  agree 
able  subject  for  pleasantry,  forgetting  that  this  dis 
union  has  a  serious  cause,  which  is  certainly  of  im 
portance  enough  to  make  itself  understood ;  forget- 


CONCLUSIOX. 

ting,  too,  that  generous  struggles  for  humanity  ar  d 
the  country  are  worthy  to  obtain  our  fullest  respect. 
And  let  us  beware  how  we  say  that  this  crisis  docs 
not  concern  us — that  we  can  do  nothing  in  it.  11  e 
selfish  isolation  of  nations  is  henceforth  impossible. 
The  question  to  be  decided  here  involves  our  own 
affairs,  not  only  because  a  portion  of  our  fortune  :s 
pledged  to  the  United  States,  but,  above  all,  be 
cause  our  principles  and  our  liberties  are  concerns  . 
The  victories  of  justice,  wherever  they  may  be  woi  , 
are  the  victories  of  the  human  race. 

We  can  aid  this  one  in  some  measure.  Amer 
ica,  which  affects  sometimes  to  declare  itself  indif 
ferent  to  our  opinions,  gathers  them  up,  however, 
with  jealous  care.  I  have  seen  respectable  Ameri 
cans  blush  at  encountering  that  instinctive  blame; 
which,  among  us,  is  addressed  to  the  progress  of 
slavery  ;  they  suffered  at  seeing  their  country  thur- 
fallen  from  the  esteem  which  it  formerly  enjoyed. 
Proud  nations  like  America  always  avenge  them 
selves  by  noble  impulses  for  the  reprobation  which 
they  are  conscious  of  having  deserved.  The  moral 
intervention  of  Europe  is  not,  therefore,  superflu 
ous  ;  it  is  the  less  so,  in  that  the  South  insults  us  by 
counting  on  us.  The  ringleaders  of  Charleston  and 
New  Orleans  affect  to  say  that  England  is  ready  to 


CONCLUSION.  24:7 

open  her  arms  to  them,  and  that  France  promises 
a  sympathizing  reception  to  her  envoys !  These 
envoys  themselves  have  been  selected  with  care, 
honorable,  having  friends  among  us, — capable,  in  a 
word,  of  presenting  the  cause  of  slavery  in  an  al 
most  seductive  light.  It  is  important,  therefore, 
that  we  should  not  keep  silence. 

Let  governments  be  reserved ;  let  them  avoid 
every  tiling  that  would  resemble  direct  action  in  the 
internal  affairs  of  the  United  States,  let  them  have 
recourse  to  the  commonplaces  of  speech  employed 
by  diplomacy  to  escape  pledging  their  policy — this 
is  well.  But  to  imagine  that  these  commonplaces 
promise  alliance  or  protection,  is  to  be  credulous 
indeed !  A  rebellion  under  cover  of  the  flag  of 
slavery,  be  sure,  will  find  it  difficult  to  make  parti 
sans  among  us  French,  whatever  may  be  our  indo 
lent  indifference  in  other  respects  in  this  matter,  an 
indifference  so  great  that  at  the  present  time  the 
American  question  docs  not  exist  to  the  most  of  us. 
Moreover,  we  shall  shake  off  this  inertia  ;  and,  as  to 
the  English,  they  will  not  suffer  their  brightest  title 
to  glory  in  modern  times  to  be  tarnished  by  any 
latent  complicity  with  the  Gulf  States.  The  brutal 
doctrines  of  interest^  so  often  professed  publicly  in 
Parliament  by  Mr.  Bright,  may  indeed  find  organs; 


248  CONCLUSION. 

and  Great  Britain  will  be  counselled  to  remember 
cotton  and  forget  justice.  The  measure  already 
taken  by  her  at  Washington,  and  which  appears  t:> 
have  been  supported  by  France,  a  measure  designed 
to  declare  that  the  blockade  of  the  Southern  ports 
must  be  effectual  to  be  recognized,  is  perhaps  i 
concession  wrested  from  her  by  this  detestabb 
school  of  selfishness.  Happily,  there  is  another 
school  face  to  face  with  this;  the  Christian  senti 
ment,  the  sentiment  of  abolition,  will  arise  and 
enforce  obedience.  Xever  was  a  more  important 
work  in  store  for  it.  To  unveil  every  suspicious  act 
of  the  British  Government,  to  keep  public  opinion 
aroused,  to  maintain,  in  line,  that  noble  moral  agita 
tion  which  makes  the  success  of  good  causes  and 
the  safety  of  free  nations,  such  is  the  mission 
proffered  in  England  to  the  defenders  of  humanity 
and  the  Gospel.  If  they  could  forget  it,  the  popu 
lace  of  Mobile  or  Savannah  pursuing  English  con 
suls,  would  remind  them  to  what  principle  tin' 
name  of  Great  Britain  is  inevitably  pledged,  for  the 
sake  of  its  honor.  France  and  England,  I  am  confi 

O 

dent,  will  act  in  unison,  here  as  elsewhere;  then 
alliance  which  comprises  within  itself  the  germs  of 
all  true  progress,  will  be  found  as  useful  and  as  fruit 
ful  in  the  New  World  as  it  has  proved  in  the  Old. 


CO^OLUSIOX.  249 

This  is  of  such  importance  that  I  beg  leave  to 
dwell  on  it ;  evidently  our  influence  has  not  jet 
been  exercised  as  it  should  have  been,  and  if  Mr. 
Lincoln  now  bends  somewhat  before  counsels  de 
void  of  energy  and  dignity,  it  proceeds  in  part  from 
our  reserve,  our  silence,  our  apparent  neutrality — 
who  knows  ?  even  from  the  discouraging  language 
that  has  been  sometimes  held  in  our  name.  The 
publication  of  the  unlucky  Morrill  Tariff,  (signed, 
we  may  say  in  passing,  by  Mr.  Buchanan,  and  the 
revocation  of  which,  I  am  convinced,  will  be  signed 
some  day  by  Mr.  Lincoln,)  has  given  the  signal  for 
political  demonstrations,  all  of  which  are  very  far 
from  being  to  the  credit  of  Europe.  Our  Jfbniteur 
has  published  articles  to  be  regretted,  but  it  is 
above  all  among  the  English  that  the  cotton  party 
has  had  full  scope. 

Let  England  beware !  it  were  better  for  her  to 
lose  Malta,  Corfu,  and  Gibraltar,  than  the  glorious 
position  which  her  struggle  against  slavery  and  the 
slave  trade  has  secured  her  in  the  esteem  of  nations. 
Even  in  our  age  of  armed  frigates  and  rifled  cannon, 
the  chief  of  all  powers,  thank  God  !  is  moral  power. 
"Woe  to  the  nation  that  disregards  it,  and  consents  to 
immolate  its  principles  to  its  interests  !  From  the 
beginning  of  the  present  conflict,  the  enemies  of 
11* 


250  CONCLUSION. 

England^  and  they  are  numerous,  hare  predicted 
that  the  cause  of  cotton  will  weigh  heavier  in  her 
scales  than  the  cause  of  justice  and  liberty.  They 
are  preparing  to  judge  her  by  her  conduct  in  the 
American  crisis.  Once  more,  let  her  beware! 

And  under  what  pretexts  do  we  chaffer  with 
the  government  of  Mr.  Lincoln  for  those  energetic, 
persevering  sympathies  on  which  it  has  a  right  to 
count?  Let  us  examine. 

We  hear,  in  the  first  place,  of  the  vigor  of  the 
South  and  the  weakness  of  the  North.  It  is  not 
the  first  time  that  a  bad  cause  has  shown  itself 
more  ardent,  more  daring,  less  preoccupied  by 
consequences,  than  a  good  one.  Good  causes  have 
scruples,  and  every  scruple  is  an  obstacle. 

I  am  assuredly  as  sorry  as  any  one  to  see  Mr. 
Lincoln  struck  with  a  sort  of  paralysis.  To  my 
mind,  the  dangers  of  inactivity  are  considerable  ;  I 
believe  that  it  discourages  friends  and  encourages 
adversaries  ;  I  believe  that  it  sanctions  more  or  less 
the  baleful  and  erroneous  principle  of  secession,  a 
principle  more  contagious  than  any  other  ;  I  believe, 
in  fine,  that,  by  postponing  civil  war,  it  probably 
risks  increasing  its  gravity.  Nevertheless,  shall  we 
not  take  into  account  the  exceptional  difficulties 
with  which  Mr.  Lincoln  is  surrounded  ? 


CONCLUSION.  251 

The  preceding  Administration  took  care  to  leave 
no  resource  in  his  hands  :  he  found  the  forts  either 
surrendered  or  indefensible,  the  arsenals  invaded, 
the  army  scattered,  the  navy  despatched  to  distant 
parts  of  the  seas.  Is  it  strange  that  he  should 
have  yielded  in  some  degree  to  the  entreaties  of  so 
many  able  men,  all  urging  in  the  same  direction  ? 
If  to-morrow  he  should  yield  entirely,  if  lie  should 
recognize  the  Southern  Confederacy,  would  it  be 
great  cause  for  astonishment  ? 

Let  us  not  forget,  moreover,  that  the  border 
States  are  at  hand,  forming  a  rampart,  as  it  were, 
to  protect  the  extreme  South.  Several  of  these 
States,  I  un  convinced,  incline  sincerely  towards 
the  Xorth,  and  will  remain  united  with  it ;  but  are 
there  not  others,  Virginia,  for  instance,  which  per 
haps  only  refrain  from  seceding  for  the  better  pro 
tection  of  those  that  have  done  so,  and  whose  pres 
ent  role  consists  in  preventing  all  repression,  while 
its  future  role  will  be  to  trammel  all  progress  by 
the  continued  threat  of  joining  the  Southern  Con 
federacy  ? 

These  are  serious  obstacles;  yet  I  have  not  pointed 
out  the  most  serious  of  all — the  intense  and  sincere 
repugnance  which  many  Northern  people,  though 
declared  adversaries  of  slavery,  experience  towards 


252  CONCLUSION. 

measures  that  are  calculated  to  provoke  slave  insiu- 
rections,  and  endanger  the  safety  of  the  planters.  1 
must  acknowledge  that  the  patience  of  the  strong 
seems  here  rather  more  laudable  than  the  so  much 
vaunted  audacity  of  the  weak,  who  count  on  thh 
patience,  and  know"  that  they  can  be  arrogant  with 
out  much  risk. 

The  second  pretext  that  is  audacioi^sly  brougli : 
forward  to  solicit  our  good  will  towards  the  South, 
is  that  it  has  just  ameliorated  the  Federal  institu 
tions.  Let  us  ask  in  what  consists  this  pretender 
amelioration  ?  The  South  has  not  feared  to  write  ii 
set  terms,  in  its  fundamental  law,  what  none  before 
it  ever  dared  write,  the  constitutional  guarantee 
of  slavery.  Slavery,  in  accordance  with  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  South,  can  neither  be  suppressed 
nor  assailed.  Slavery  will  be  the  holy  ark  to  be 
regarded  with  respect  from  afar  off,  the  corner-stone 
which  all  are  forbidden  to  touch.  By  the  side  of 
this,  the  South  ostentatiously  proclaims  freedom  of 
speech,  of  the  press,  of  discussion  in  every  form  ! 
Men  shall  be  free  to  speak,  but  on  condition  of  not 
touching,  nearly  or  remotely,  on  any  subject  con 
nected  with  slavery,  (and  every  thing  is  connected 
with  it  in  the  South.)  They  shall  be  free  to  print, 
but  on  condition  of  giving  no  writing  whatever  to 


CONCLUSION.  253 

the  public  from  which  may  be  inferred  the  unity  of 
mankind,  the  sanctity  of  family  ties,  the  great  prin 
ciples,  in  fact,  which  the  "patriarchal  system" 
throws  overboard.  They  shall  be  free  to  discuss, 
but  on  condition  of  not  disturbing  this  institution, 
impatient  by  nature,  and  still  more  so  in  future,  now 
that  it  feels  itself  hemmed  in  and  threatened  on  all 
sides.  It  will  be  by  itself  alone  the  whole  Consti 
tution  of  the  South  ;  this  one  article  will  devour  the 
rest ;  in  default  of  legislatures  and  courts,  the 
Southern  populace  know  how  to  give  force  to  the 
guarantee  of  slavery,  and  to  restrain  freedom  of 
speech,  of  the  press,  and  of  discussion. 

It  is  true  that  adroit  patrons  of  the  South  Caro 
linian  rebellion  have  a  third  argument  at  their  ser 
vice  which  is  no  less  specious.  "  All  is  over,"  they 
exclaim,  "  there  is  nobody  now  to  sustain,  there  are 
no  sympathies  now  to  testify  ;  in  four  clays,  peace 
will  be  made,  the  new  Confederation  will  be  recog 
nized  by  Lincoln  in  person,  a  commercial  treaty 
will  even  ally  it  to  the  United  States  :  the  affair  is 
ended." 

The  affair  is  scarcely  begun,  we  answer ;  one 
must  be  blind  not  to  see  it.  What  is  ended,  is  only 
the  first  skirmish.  As  to  the  war,  it  will  be  as  long, 
believe  me,  as  the  life  of  the  two  principles  which 


254 


are  struggling  in  America.  Let  Mr.  Lincoln  assure 
himself,  and  let  the  European  adversaries  of  slaver/ 
remember  as  well,  that  it  will  be  necessary  to  con  - 
bat  and  to  per  evere.  Xever  was  a  more  obstinate 
and  more  colossal  strife  commenced  on  earth.  Man/ 
of  the  border  States  will  not  be  long  in  raising  pre 
tensions  to  which  they  will  join  threats  of  new  se 
cessions  ;  they  will  again  bring  up  the  question  o  ' 
the  Territories,  and  will  propose  compromises. 
Who  knows?  they  will  aspire  perhaps  to  establish, 
in  the  interests  of  the  extreme  South,  the  extradition 
of  slaves  escaped  from  the  rival  Confederacy.  "Who 
knows  again  ?  they  will  perhaps  attempt  to  restore 
their  domestic  slave  trade  with  Charleston  and  Xew 
Orleans. 

This  is  not  all.  The  time  will  come  when  the  ex 
treme  South,  incapable  of  enduring  the  life  that  ii 
has  just  created  for  itself,  will  demand  to  return  t< 
the  bosom  of  the  Union.  It  will  then  insist  OL 
dictating  its  conditions  ;  it  will  propose  the  election 
of  a  general  convention  charged  with  reconstructing 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  ;•  it  will  up 
peal  to  the  selfishness  of  some,  and  to  the  ambitioi. 
or  even  the  patriotism  of  others,  presenting  tu 
their  sight  the  re-establishment  of  the  common 
greatness  which  separation  had  compromised. 


CONCLUSION.  255 

•"What  a  motive  to  veil  principles  for  a  moment ! 
what  a  temptation  to  return  to  the  fatal  path  so 
lately  forsaken ! 

I  know  very  well  that  it  will  be  henceforth  im 
possible  to  return  to  it  completely  ;  nevertheless,  the 
vigilance  of  Mr.  Lincoln  will  not  cease  to  be  neces 
sary,  and  what  will  be  no  less  necessary,  is  the 
moral  support  which  we  are  bound  to  lend  him  in 
the  hour  of  success  and  in  the  hour  of  discourage 
ment,  in  good  and  in  bad  reputation.  Where  do 
we  find  a  more  glorious  cause  than  this  ?  despite  the 
impure  alloy  which  is  mingled  with  it,  of  course, 
as  with  all  glorious  causes,  is  it  not  fitted  to  stir  up 
generous  hearts  ?  Already,  thanks  to  the  defeat  of 
the  democratic  party,  the  United  States  that  we 
once  knew,  those  of  the  last  ten  years,  those  that 
the  South  governed  with  its  wand,  those  whose  in 
stitutions  were  corrupted  and  debased  by  slavery, 
those  who  numbered  in  the  North  as  in  the  South 
so  many  fortunes  based  openly  on  the  slave  traffic, 
those  who  had  seen  among  their  Presidents  a  slave 
merchant,  carrying  on  his  speculations  in  public 
view — these  United  States  have  just  ended  their  ca 
reer,  they  have  entered  the  domain  of  history,  their 
disappearance  has  been  verified  by  the  retreat  of 
the  extreme  South. 


256  CONCLUSION. 

The  American  people  are  now  striving  to  rise. 
Enterprise  as  difficult  as  glorious.  Whatever  iw  y 
be  the  issue  of  the  first  conflict  just  about  to  be 
decided,  this  will  be  only  the  first  conflict.  The  -e 
will  be  many  others ;  the  uprising  of  a  great  people 
is  not  the  work  of  a  day.  Sometimes  at  peace, 
sometimes  perhaps  at  war  with  the  States  that  take 
in  hand  the  cause  of  slavery,  the  American  Confed 
eration  will  witness  the  development,  one  after  a  i- 
other,  of  the  consequences  necessarily  produced  1  y 
that  decisive  event,  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincol  i. 
Having  broken  with  the  past,  it  will  be  forced  r,o 
enter  further  and  further  into  the  path  of  the  future. 
"We  have  already  seen  that,  whichever  hypothesis  is 
realized  of  those  which  we  are  permitted  to  foresee, 
the  cause  of  slavery  is  destined  to  experience  defeat 
after  defeat.  It  has  ceased  to  grow,  it  is  about  to 
decrease,  to  decrease  by  separation,  to  decrease  by 
union,  to  decrease  by  peace,  to  decrease  by  war. 
As  surely  as  there  will  be  obstacles  without  num 
ber  to  surmount  in  order  to  accomplish  this  work, 
so  surely  will  this  work  be  accomplished.  Cer 
tainly,  it  deserves  to  be  loved  and  sustained,  with 
out  discouragement  and  hesitation.  Europe  will 
comprehend  it. 

On  seeing  her  attitude,  the  angry  champions  of 


CONCLUSION.  257 

slavery  will  doubtless  perceive  that  they  are  mis 
taken,  and  that  it  is  time  to  make  new  calculations. 
As  for  the  brave  men  of  the  North,  they  will  be 
glad  to  learn  what  is  thought  of  them  on  this  side 
of  the  Atlantic.  This  may  aid,  and  greatly,  in  the 
more  or  less  distant  re-establishment  of  the  Union. 
If  the  Gulf  States  knew  what  insurmountable  dis 
gust  will  be  aroused  here  by  their  Confederacy, 
founded  to  secure  the  duration  and  prosperity  of 
slavery  ;  if  the  border  States  knew  what  sympathies 
they  will  gain  by  siding  with  liberty,  and  what 
maledictions  they  will  incur  by  declaring  themselves 
for  slavery  ;  if  the  Northern  States  knew  what  sup 
port  is  secured  to  them  by  that  power,  the  chief  of 
all  others,  public  opinion,  we  are  justified  in  believ 
ing  that  the  present  crisis  would  come  to  a  prompt 
and  peaceful  solution. 

It  is  a  fixed  fact  that  the  nineteenth  century  will 
see  the  end  of  slavery  in  all  its  forms ;  and  woe  to 
him  who  opposes  the  march  of  such  a  progress ! 
Who  is  not  deeply  impressed  by  the  thought  that, 
on  the  4th  of  March,  at  the  very  hour  when  Mr. 
Lincoln,  in  taking  possession  of  the  Presidency 
at  Washington,  signified  to  the  attentive  world  the 
will  of  a  great  republic,  determined  to  arrest  the 
conquests  of  slavery,  the  generous  head  of  a  great 


258  cos  CL  u 


empire  signified  to  his  ministers  his  immutable  re 
solve  to  prepare  for  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs.  L-. 
such  coincidences,  who  does  not  recognize  the  finge:1 
of  God.  I  am,  therefore,  tranquil:  Russian,  opposi 
tion  has  failed,  American  opposition  will  fail.  There; 
will  be  American  opposition  ;  there  will  be,  there 
is  such  already,  in  the  very  surroundings  and  cabi 
net  of  the  President.  ~\Ye  have  just  seen  how  I; 
seeks  to  enervate  his  resolutions,  to  pledge  him  irre 
vocably  to  that  wavering  policy,  more  to  be  dreaded 
for  him  than  the  projects  of  assassination  aboil  : 
which,  right  or  wrong,  so  much  noise  has  been 
made.  Nevertheless,  this  evil  has  its  bounds 
marked  out  in  advance  ;  he  whom  God  guards  is 
well  guarded.  If  you  wish  to  know  what  the  Presi 
dency  of  Mr.  Lincoln  will  be  in  the  end,  see  in  what 
manner  and  under  what  auspices  it  was  inaugurated  ; 
listen  to  the  words  that  fell  from  the  lips  of  the 
new  President  as  he  quitted  his  native  town  :  "  The 
task  that  devolves  upon  me  is  greater,  perhaps. 
than  that  which  has  devolved  on  any  other  man 
since  the  days  of  Washington.  I  hope  that  you 
my  friends,  will  all  pray  that  I  may  receive  that  n.- 
sistance  from  on  high,  without  which  I  cannot  suc 
ceed,  but  with  which  success  is  certain."  "  YCF, 
yes  ;  we  wrill  pray  for  you  !  v  Such  was  the  re- 


CONCLUSION. 

sponse  of  the  inhabitants  of  Springfield,  who,  weep 
ing,  and  with  uncovered  heads,  witnessed  the  de 
parture  of  their  fellow-citizen.  What  a  debut  for  a 
government !  Have  there  been  many  inaugurations 
here  below  of  such  thrilling  solemnity  ?  Do  uni 
forms  and  plumes,  the  roar  of  cannon,  triumphal 
arches,  and  vague  appeals  to  Providence,  equal 
these  simple  words  :  "  Pray  for  me  !  "  "  We  will 
pray  for  you  "  !  Ah  !  courage,  Lincoln  !  the  friends 
of  freedom  and  of  America  are  with  you.  Cour 
age  !  you  hold  in  your  hands  the  destinies  of  a  great 
"principle  and  a  great  people.  Courage !  You  have 
to  resist  your  friends  and  to  face  your  foes  ;  it  is  the 
fate  of  all  who  seek  to  do  good  on  earth.  Courage ! 
You  will  have  need  of  it  to-morrow,  in  a  year,  to 
the  end  ;  you  will  have  need  of  it  ia  peace  and  in 
war  ;  you  will  have  need  of  it  to  avert  the  compro 
mise  in  peace  or  war  of  that  noble  progress  which 
it  is  your  charge  to  accomplish,  more  than  in  con 
quests  of  slavery.  Courage !  your  role,  as  you  have 
said,  may  be  inferior  to  no  other,  not  even  to  that 
of  Washington  :  to  raise  up  the  United  States  will 
not  be  less  glorious  than  to  have  founded  them. 

It  is  doubtless  from  a  distance  that  we  express 
these  sympathies,  but  there  are  things  which  are 
judged  better  from  a  distance  than  near  at  hand. 


260  CONCLUSION, 

Europe  is  well  situated  to  estimate  the  present  crisi  3. 
The  opinion  of  France,  especially,  should  have  son:  e 
weight  with  the  United  States  :  independently  of  01  r 
old  alliances,  we  are,  of  all  nations,  perhaps,  tlie 
most  interested  in  the  success  of  the  Confederation. 
They  are  friendly  voices  which,  here  and  elsewhere, 
in  our  reviews  and  our  journals,  bear  to  it  the  co :•- 
dial  expression  of  our  wishes.  In  wishing  the  finzil 
triumph  of  the  North,  we  wish  the  salvation  of  the 
North  and  South,  their  common  greatness  and  their 
lasting  prosperity. 

But  the  South  disquiets  us  ;  we  cannot  disguise 
it.  It  is  in  bad  hands.  A  sort  of  terror  reigns 
there  ;  important  but  moderate  men  are  forced  to 
bow  the  head,  or  to  feel  that  it  will  be  necessary  to 
do  so  ere  long.  The  planters  must  see  already  that, 
in  seeking  to  put  away  what  they  call  the  yoke 
of  the  North,  they  are  preparing  for  themselves 
other  masters.  Business  is  suspended,  money  for 
cultivation  is  lacking,  credit  is  everywhere  refused, 
the  ensuing  harvest  is  mortgaged,  the  loans  which 
it  is  sought  to  issue  find  no  takers  outside  the  ex 
treme  South.  The  resources  of  revolution  remain, 
and  they  will  be  used  unsparingly. 

What  a  position  !  Under  the  Constitution  voted 
scarcely  a  month  ago,  we  already  hear  the  deep 


CONCLUSION.  261 

rumbling  of  the  quarrels  of  classes,  of  the  planters 
and  the  poor  whites,  of  the  aristocracy  and  the 
numerical  majority,  of  the  prudent  adversaries  of 
the  slave  trade  and  its  headstrong  partisans,  of  the 
statesmen  who  are  tolerated  for  appearances  and 
those  who  count  on  replacing  them,  of  the  present 
and  the  future. 

People  will  some  day  see  clearly,  even  in 
Charleston.  The  separation  which  was  to  establish 
the  prosperity  of  the  South  by  permitting  it  at  last 
to  live  to  its  liking,  to  obey  its  genius,  and  to  serve 
its  interests,  has  hitherto  resulted  in  little,  save  the 
singing  of  the  Marseillaise,  (the  Marseillaise  of  Sla 
very  !  )  and  the  striking  down  of  the  Federal  colors 
before  the  flag  of  the  pelican  and  the  rattlesnake. 
A  great  many  blue  ribbons  and  Colt's  revolvers  are 
sold ;  and  busts  of  Calhoun,  the  first  theorist  of  se 
cession,  are  carried  about  ostentatiously.  Next,  to 
present  a  good  mien  to  the  eyes  of  Europe,  a  Con 
stitution  is  voted  in  haste,  a  government  is  formed, 
an  army  is  decreed  ;  but  the  revolutionary  basis  is 
remaining,  and  we  perceive  but  too  quickly  how 
great  disorder  prevails  in  minds  and  things. 

At  the  present  hour,  the  democracy  of  the  South 
is  about  to  degenerate  into  demagogism.  But  the 
North  presents  quite  a  different  spectacle.  Mark 


262  CONCLUSION. 

what  is  passing  there  ;  pierce  beneath  appearances, 
beneath  the  inevitable  wavering  of  a  debut  so  well 
prepared  for  by  the  preceding  Administration,  and 
you  will  find  the  firm  resolution  of  a  people  upris 
ing.  Who  speaks  of  the  end  of  the  United  States  \ 
This  end  seemed  approaching  but  lately,  in  the  hour 
of  prosperity  ;  then,  honor  was  compromised,  es 
teem  for  the  country  was  lowered,  institutions  wcr  3 
becoming  corrupted  apace ;  the  moment  seemed 
approaching  when  the  Confederation,  tainted  by 
slavery,  could  not  but  perish  with  it.  ]Sfow,  ever;.' 
thing  has  changed  aspect ;  the  friends  of  America 
should  take  confidence,  for  its  greatness  is  insepar 
able,  thank  God  !  from  the  cause  of  justice. 

Justice  cannot  do  wrong y  I  like  to  recall  this 
maxim  when  I  consider  the  present  state  of  Amer 
ica.  In  escaping  a  sudden  and  shameful  death,  it- 
will  not,  assuredly,  escape  struggles  and  difficulties  ; 
in  returning  to  life,  it  will  encounter  battle  and 
danger  longer  than  it  imagines  ;  life  is  composed 
of  this.  To  live  is  a  laborious  vocation,  and  nations 
who  wish  to  keep  their  place  here  below,  who  wish 
to  act  and  not  to  sleep,  must  know  that  they  will 
have  their  share  of  suffering.  Perhaps  it  enters 
into  the  plans  of  God  that  the  United  States  should 
endure  for  a  time  some  diminution  of  their  great- 


CONCLUSION.  203 

ness ;  let  them  be  sure,  notwithstanding,  that  their 
flag  will  be  neither  less  respected  nor  less  glorious, 
if  it  shall  thus  lose  a  few  of  its  stars.  Those  which 
it  loses  will  reappear  on  it  some  day,  and  how  many 
others,  meanwhile,  will  come  to  increase  the  Federal 
Constellation !  With  what  acclamations  will  Eu 
rope  salute  the  future  progress  of  the  United  States, 
as  soon  as  their  progress  shall  have  ceased  to  be  that 
of  slavery  ! 

At  present,  the  point  in  question  is  to  liquidate 
a  bad  debt.  The  moment  of  liquidation  is  always 
painful ;  but  when  it  is  over,  credit  revives.  So 
will  it  be  in  America.  She  has  often  boasted  of  the 
energetic  sang-froid  of  her  merchants  ;  when  ruined, 
-they  neither  lament,  nor  are  discouraged  ;  there  is  a 
fortune  to  make  again.  In  the  same  manner,  put 
ting  things  at  the  worst,  supposing  the  present  crisis 
to  'be  comparable  to  ruin  ;  there  is  a  nation  to  make 
again,  it  will  be  re-made.  "  Gentlemen,"  said  Mr. 
Seward  lately,  in  concluding  his  great  speech  in 
Congress,  "  if  this  Union  were  shattered  to-day  by 
the  spirit  of  faction,  it  would  reconstruct  itself  to 
morrow  with  the  former  majestic  proportions." 


THE   END. 


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